Garver powers Twins past Indians

Mitch Garver capped his fifth career multi-homer performance with a go-ahead, three-run shot in the seventh inning as the Minnesota Twins recorded a 5-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday in Minneapolis. Jonathan Schoop had an RBI triple in the seventh inning as the American League Central-leading Twins posted their 11th win in their last 14 contests to move 6 1/2 games ahead of second-place Cleveland.

The victory notwithstanding, Minnesota was dealt a significant blow earlier on Saturday as Major League Baseball handed right-hander Michael Pineda a 60-game suspension without pay for violating the league's drug policy. Pineda tested positive for Hydrochlorothiazide, which is a violation of the league's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Yasiel Puig avenged his failure to run out a groundout by ripping an RBI double and scoring on Jason Kipnis' single for the Indians, who have lost six of their last nine contests.

The Twins erased a 2-1 deficit in the seventh inning after Willians Astudillo singled off Adam Cimber (5-3) and came around to score on Schoop's RBI triple to center field. Oliver Perez walked Max Kepler before giving way to Nick Goody, who saw Garver deposit his 1-1 fastball over the wall in right field. Garver's second homer of the night made a winner out of Zack Littell (4-0), who allowed one hit in one scoreless inning of work. Sergio Romo bridged the gap to Taylor Rogers, who retired the side in order in the ninth for his 25th save.

Twins starter Jake Odorizzi cruised through five innings in which he struck out 10 batters before he issued a pair of one-out walks in the sixth. Puig, who drew the ire of manager Terry Francona after failing to run out a grounder in the fourth inning, plated speedy rookie Oscar Mercado with an RBI double to forge a tie at 1. Odorizzi was promptly replaced by Tyler Duffey, who uncorked a wild pitch to allow Carlos Santana to score to give the Indians a 2-1 lead.

Minnesota opened the scoring in the first inning as Garver sent a 3-1 cutter from Aaron Civale over the wall in left-center field. That homer was Garver's 27th of the season, eclipsing Earl Battey's 1963 franchise record for homers in a season by a catcher. 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)