MINNEAPOLIS — Steven Kwan tied a season high with four RBIs and the Cleveland Guardians made it 10 straight wins by beating the Minnesota Twins 8-0 on Saturday to sweep a day-night doubleheader without giving up a run.
Winners in 15 of their past 16 games, the Guardians are one game back of first-place Detroit in the AL Central after trailing by 11 on Sept. 4. The Tigers were beaten 6-5 by Atlanta on Saturday afternoon.
The Guardians started the nightcap one game behind Boston and Houston in the wild-card standings. They won the opener 6-0, hitting five home runs in a game for the first time since April 10, 2021.
Limited to one hit through four innings, Cleveland sent 10 batters to the plate in the fifth inning.
A one-out single by Kwan scored Brayan Rocchio and Petey Halpin. With two outs, Kyle Manzardo and C.J. Kayfus had RBI singles around a two-run double by Gabriel Arias to the wall in right-center field.
Kwan added a two-run single in the eighth.
That was more than enough for Logan Allen (8-11), who earned his first win since July 29 by scattering four hits and striking out seven in a career-high eight innings.
Guardians starters have allowed no more than two earned runs in 15 straight games since Sept. 5, the longest streak in franchise history.
Bailey Ober (5-9) permitted six runs and eight hits in five innings for the Twins. After going 4-1 in his first seven starts, he is 1-8 in 19 starts since May 8. He missed 26 games from June 29 to Aug. 2 with a left hip impingement.
Halpin’s single was his first career hit. The 23-year-old outfielder was called up from the minors earlier in the day when outfielder Nolan Jones was placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained right oblique.
The Twins had seven hits in the doubleheader, falling to 2-7 in their past nine games and 4-15 in September.
Sunday’s series finale has Cleveland LHP Joey Cantillo (5-3, 3.27 ERA) scheduled to face Minnesota RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (7-4, 4.31).
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