Twins beat Indians in series opener, gain in wild-card chase

CLEVELAND _ Four hours before the series of the year was scheduled to begin on Monday, the Twins were dealt a blow.tmpplchld But like so many times this season, they adjusted and kept winning.tmpplchld Tommy Milone stepped in for the ailing Phil Hughes and tamed the Indians lineup while keeping the Twins steered toward the AL wild-card holders.tmpplchld The offense jumped on Corey Kluber early. Milone pitched into the sixth inning. The bullpen got the final 10 outs. And the Twins made an emergency start look like no big deal as they defeated Cleveland 4-2 in the first of a four-game series at Progressive Field.tmpplchld The victory moved the Twins to one game behind Houston for the final wild-card spot. The Los Angeles Angles were a half-game ahead of the Twins and a half-game behind the Astros. Both Houston and Los Angeles played late Monday night.tmpplchld The Twins beat Kluber at Target Field on Wednesday, jumping on him for four runs in the fourth inning. The early ambush was the approach on Monday, because Kluber entered the game with a 5.10 ERA in the first inning.tmpplchld With two outs, Joe Mauer swung at the first pitch and powered a double off the center-field wall. Miguel Sano followed with a shot just to the left of where Mauer’s hit for an RBI double and 1-0 lead.tmpplchld Trevor Plouffe got a 1-1 sinker that was up in the strike and belted it an estimated 425 feet into the left-field stands for a two-run homer. The Twins led, 3-0.tmpplchld Cleveland got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Francisco Lindor, making a strong case for AL rookie of the year, hit a home run to left to make it 3-1.tmpplchld Was that a sign of a rough night for Milone? It turned out not to be.tmpplchld Milone threw first-pitch strikes to 16 of the 21 batters he faced, and getting ahead in the count enabled him to be unpredictable. He settled down the second time through the Indians order, retiring all nine batters he faced to keep the momentum on the Twins’ side. Brian Dozier added to the lead with a sacrifice fly in the fourth that made it 4-1.tmpplchld Milone did give up a run in the sixth, when Jason Kipnis launched a triple off the wall in center _ he had a shot at an inside-the-park home run but we held up at third as Eduardo Escobar dropped the relay throw. Kipnis then scored on a groundout.tmpplchld Milone gave up two earned runs over 5? 2/3 innings on four hits, no walks and four strikeouts.tmpplchld Kluber, in his longest outing since recovering from a sore hamstring earlier this month, went six innings. The defending AL Cy Young Award winner gave up seven hits and walked three while striking out six. The six strikeouts gave him 236 for the season and 505 for the last two seasons. He’s first AL pitcher to strike out at least 500 batters over two seasons since Johan Santana struck out 503 over 2004 and 2005 with the Twins.tmpplchld That was the only highlight for Cleveland, as the Twins bullpen pitched 3?1/3 scoreless innings with Kevin Jepsen getting his 14th save.tmpplchld ___tmpplchld (c)2015 Star Tribune (Minneapolis)tmpplchld Visit the Star Tribune (Minneapolis) at www.startribune.comtmpplchld Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.tmpplchld