First Detroit, and now Cleveland. The Twins are butting into the American League Central race, and their kids are leading the way.
Oswaldo Arcia and Kennys Vargas both homered on Friday night, Arcia extended a ninth-inning rally off the Indians closer, and Danny Santana scored the winning run in the 10th, as the Twins won their third game in a row against a team desperate for victories, this one 5-4 over Cleveland at Target Field.
The loss, finalized when Trevor Plouffe dropped a one-out, bases-loaded single in front of center fielder Michael Bourn, does serious damage to Cleveland's wild-card hopes, since Seattle and Oakland both won, dropping the Indians five games behind the A's with nine to play. And it was another learning opportunity for the Twins' trio of breakthrough youngsters.
"They've done a great job," said Plouffe, who at 28 is practically ancient compared to his young teammates. "Danny's probably impressed me the most, how he's handled everything, [including] moving to different positions. That's something I've experienced, it's not easy. And Kennys has come along and been a middle-order bat that we need."
So has Arcia, who has finally begun ironing out the overeager inconsistency that drives him into deep slumps. On Friday, returning after a few days off because of a bad back, Arcia victimized Indians starter Trevor Bauer, whose curveball he knows he can hit. So when Arcia saw another from the righthander, on a 3-2 pitch in the third inning, "I got it, you know?" he said with some wonder.
It was Arcia's 19th home run of the season — four of them coming off Bauer. That's no fluke, either; Arcia hit a fifth homer off Bauer in May, when he was playing for Rochester and Bauer was pitching for Columbus.
Vargas followed Arcia's example the next inning — and fulfilled a promise he made to his mother, who was in attendance to see him as a major leaguer for the first time.
"I tell her before the game, I'm going to dedicate it for her," Vargas said, and when Bauer tried a 3-2 fastball, he delivered. His ninth homer of the season was so high, "I thought it was routine fly ball," he said. "I just run hard to first and the ball just go. I was like, OK, I take it."
Still, Bauer gave up only three runs over seven innings, and the Twins trailed 4-3 after one of Phil Hughes' less-effective outings over the season's final two months. Hughes gave up four runs on 10 hits over seven innings. However, the righthander did bank a $250,000 innings bonus early in his outing, and near the end of it he became the first Twins pitcher since 2011 to surpass 200 innings.
In the bottom of the ninth inning with Indians closer Cody Allen pitching, Kurt Suzuki laced a one-out double, and Arcia lined a single that moved pinch runner Eduardo Nunez to third.
Aaron Hicks then hit a potential double-play grounder, but when shortstop Jose Ramirez couldn't field it cleanly, Nunez scored the tying run.
Then Santana, quiet all night, started the winning rally in the 10th, leading off with a single and going to third on a sharply hit single by Brian Dozier.
"Danny going first to third — that was gutsy," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Everything says don't get thrown out there, and he's just fearless."
The Indians intentionally walked Joe Mauer to load the bases, and after Vargas struck out, Plouffe came through with the winning single.
"It doesn't mean as much as it should, because we're not where we want to be," Plouffe said of his last-place team. "But it's always nice to beat a team that's in the race."
