Everything clicks for suddenly streaking Twins in 11-1 rout of Guardians

Phil Miller, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Apr 28, 2025

Published in Baseball

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CLEVELAND — Things really have changed for the Twins, and for just about everybody on the team. Or so it seemed Monday night.

How else to explain the first leadoff home run by Edouard Julien in more than a year, the second three-hit game of Jonah Bride’s career, the second two-hit game of Mickey Gasper’s career, Kody Clemens’ first hit as a Twin and the first home run by a Twins catcher of the season?

All that happened at Progressive Field, plus Bailey Ober’s fourth consecutive quality start, and it added up to an 11-1 victory, the Twins’ fourth in a row.

The Twins, who went 1-6 in Cleveland last year against the eventual Central Division champion Guardians, took no chances this time. They racked up four runs and seven hits in the first two innings against Guardians starter Gavin Williams, starting with Julien’s first-pitch, 403-foot homer over the center-field fence, just two feet shorter than the longest of his career.

Ten Twins hitters collected a hit on the night — the team’s 17 hits were a season high — and seven players drove in at least one run.

Yet amid all the offensive contributions from players both expected and less so, it was Ober who stood out the most. He only struck out two Guardians yet always appeared totally in control of the game. Only three times did a Guardian reach second base, and only once could Cleveland bring the run home. A double by Gabriel Arias to lead off the fifth, followed by a single from Jhonkensy Noel into left field, was all the Guardians could muster.

Ober — who last season reeled off a streak of 11 quality starts (six innings pitched, three or fewer runs), the longest such streak since the Johan Santana days — seems to be in a similar groove again, and it’s bringing along his team, which has won four of his six starts.