Cleveland Indians vs. Minnesota Twins

The Twins made it 4-1 in the fourth inning with a rally that began with a leadoff double by left fielder Eddie Rosario, who had three of the Twins’ eight hits. Santana hammered it deep to right for his 18th homer of the season.

Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Corey Kluber delivers in the first inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins, Monday, September 28, 2015, in Cleveland.

The Cleveland Indians have looked like a playoff team at times but not often enough which has left them on the outside looking in. With the Indians being down by three runs and there being no outs, Indians third base coach Mike Sarbaugh held Kipnis at third.

“Our plan was to be aggressive and not let him get ahead in the count because then he can go to his off-speed stuff”, said Plouffe of Kluber. Center fielder Aaron Hicks fell to the ground on his attempt to snag the fly ball.

Progressive Field and the Cleveland Indians host the rival Minnesota Twins on Tuesday.

CLEVELAND (AP) – Tommy Milone didn’t expect to start Monday night.

The Indians lost a crucial game to the Minnesota Twins 4-2 Monday night. Starter Tommy Milone upped his record to 9-5 with both runs plated on four hits over 5.2 frames while four relievers put up zeros. Milone is 8-5 with a 4.08 ERA.

“It feels good but we’re obviously not finished yet”, said Plouffe, who homered as part of a three-run first inning. “I came in not expecting to, but in the back of my mind being prepared in case that kind of situation was going to happen”.

“The games are dwindling and we’re trying to play catch-up, but I think the guys’ focus is good”, manager Paul Molitor said.

The victory moved the Twins to one game behind Houston for the final wild-card spot. Elevated pitches by Kluber led to balls that came off the bat at velocities of 104, 108 and 104 miles per hour, respectively, according to Statcast™.

The left-hander was sent to the bullpen following two rocky outings in which he allowed 12 runs over five innings. Santana had six starts in August and pitched only 31.2 innings, averaging out to less than six innings per outing. Cleveland (77-78) was four games behind the Astros before its costly defeat.

“The energy was low in the crowd and there wasn’t much energy in our dugout, either”, second baseman Jason Kipnis said. “We can’t have that, especially in our situation”.

Trevor Plouffe provided the biggest hit for Minnesota with a two-run homer in the first. Right-hander Kevin Jepsen pitched the ninth to pick up his 14th save. But when a team is at the end of September in a wild card chase, the empty seats end up being louder than the ones with fans in them.

Kluber retired the first two hitters before allowing three straight extra-base hits, all to left-center field. Defense has been significantly improved in 2015, and the offense has been carried the final month by players like Miguel Sano and Torii Hunter. He gave up another home run, this time a three-run shot to Santana.