Slumping Cleveland Guardians lose to Minnesota Twins in first game of doubleheader

Carlos Santana and Ryan Jeffers each homered, and the Minnesota Twins held on for a 4-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians to claim the first game of a doubleheader Friday afternoon in Minneapolis.

Royce Lewis and Kyle Farmer added one RBI apiece for Minnesota, which snapped a two-game skid.

Brayan Rocchio hit a two-run homer to lead the Guardians at the plate. Cleveland lost its sixth game in a row, which is its longest drought of the season.

The Guardians' lead in the American League Central dwindled to 2.5 games over the Twins.

Twins right-hander Bailey Ober (12-5) fired six scoreless innings and struck out nine. He held Cleveland to two hits and two walks.

Ober notched his ninth consecutive quality start. He also earned his fourth straight victory.

Guardians left-hander Joey Cantillo (0-2) remained winless in his third career start. He gave up three runs on five hits in 5⅔ innings.

Twins closer Jhoan Duran struck out the side in the ninth to collect his 16th save.

The Twins opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning. Manuel Margot hit a leadoff double, advanced to third base on a flyout to right field and scored on Lewis' groundout to third.

Minnesota made it 2-0 in the second. Santana led off the inning with his 15th home run of the season, a 413-foot shot over the wall in left field.

Jeffers added a solo shot in the fourth to boost the Twins' lead to 3-0. With two outs, he jumped on a first-pitch fastball for his team-leading 17th homer.

Cleveland cut the deficit to 3-2 in the seventh when Rocchio drilled a 367-foot shot to right-center field for a two-run homer.

Rocchio's blast also scored Andres Gimenez, who singled to lead off the inning. It was the fifth homer for Rocchio, a 23-year-old from Venezuela.

Minnesota increased its lead to 4-2 in the seventh when Farmer hit a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in Max Kepler from third base.

The game was made up from April 7, when inclement weather forced a postponement of the originally scheduled game.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Slumping Cleveland Guardians lose to Minnesota Twins in first game of doubleheader