Alan Roden delivers walk-off hit in season debut, Twins clinch series win over Guardians

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jul 8, 2026

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — One of the reasons the Minnesota Twins won their first home series against the Cleveland Guardians in more than four years, clinching a series victory with a 6-5 walk-off win Wednesday, was commissioner Rob Manfred’s insistence on a rule change before the 2020 season.

Another reason was Alan Roden delivering a walk-off RBI single off the center-field wall with two outs in the ninth inning to complete his season debut. Roden raised his arms once he saw the ball hit the wall, then chucked his helmet aside as teammates mobbed him in shallow right field.

The Twins set up Roden’s game-winning hit with an infield single, a ground ball that was misplayed by Guardians second baseman Travis Bazzanna and a walk.

Roden, called up after Byron Buxton was placed on the 10-day injured list Tuesday, earned his first career walk-off hit after driving a fastball to the wall to end a nine-pitch at-bat against Guardians reliever Matt Festa.

Before Roden’s heroics, the three-batter minimum provided a chunk of the Twins’ offense. Manfred pushed for a three-batter minimum rule for pitchers, as part of pace of play initiatives, and that was key to the Twins’ comeback at Target Field.

The Twins erased a two-run deficit in the seventh inning without putting a ball in play. Cleveland reliever Shawn Armstrong walked two of the first three batters in the inning before he was replaced by lefty Erik Sabrowski against the top of the Twins batting order.

Sabrowski walked all three batters he faced and missed the strike zone with his first 11 pitches. Brooks Lee and Kody Clemens drew bases-loaded walks, tying the score, before the Guardians turned to their third reliever of the inning, Hunter Gaddis.

The Twins couldn’t capitalize further, leaving the bases loaded with a shallow flyout and an infield pop-up, but Sabrowski’s three-batter minimum allowed them to tie the score.

There were missed opportunities from the Twins offense. They had runners on second and third, with no outs, during the eighth inning, but it led to no runs when Guardians closer Cade Smith struck out the next two batters. Lee cost the Twins a run in the first inning, unable to score from first when Clemens hit a double off the top of the right-field wall, and then he was promptly picked off third by catcher Austin Hedges.

Cleveland scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning, aided by Twins reliever Eric Orze’s inability to throw strikes. Orze walked two of the three batters he faced. Twins lefty Taylor Rogers allowed an RBI single to Chase DeLauter on his first pitch, then gave up a run on a squeeze bunt from Brayan Rocchio on his second pitch.

Rogers rebounded to leave the bases loaded with a pair of strikeouts sandwiched around an infield single.

Playing in front of an announced crowd of 14,901, it was a game full of comebacks for the Twins offense. The Guardians scored three runs in the top of the fourth inning, and the Twins responded with three runs in the next half-inning.

The Twins knocked Guardians starter Slade Cecconi out of the game in the fourth inning, his shortest start of the season. They loaded the bases with no outs after singles from Lee, Clemens and Josh Bell.

Royce Lewis drew a bases-loaded walk, and Luke Keaschall followed two batters later with a sacrifice fly to center.

With two outs, Alan Roden lined a tying RBI single to center in his season debut. Roden, one of the final cuts in spring training, spent six weeks on the minor league injured list because of a labrum tear in his right shoulder.

The Guardians took a 3-0 lead during the fourth inning off Twins rookie left-hander Connor Prielipp. After DeLauter lined a leadoff single to center, Rocchio crushed a changeup into the second deck for a two-run homer. Prielipp barely even turned his head, taking one quick glance before looking away and asking for a new baseball.

Two pitches later, Rhys Hoskins drilled a down-the-middle slider into the left field seats for a solo home run.

Prielipp had allowed only two homers over his previous 39 innings, and here were two longballs within three pitches. It was Cleveland’s first set of back-to-back homers this season.

The Twins, who had their first four batters reach base in the bottom of the fourth inning, clinched their first series win over the Guardians at Target Field since May 13-15, 2022.

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