Twins salvage end of road trip, outlast Guardians for 12-inning win behind new relievers

Bobby Nightengale, Star Tribune on Jul 23, 2026

Published in Baseball

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The Twins have so many bad memories at Cleveland’s Progressive Field, so many close losses there throughout the last five years, that it was almost stunning to see new reliever Jack Anderson celebrating the end of a 3-1 victory in 12 innings.

Trevor Larnach gave the Twins their first lead with a two-out RBI single off Guardians left-hander Erik Sabrowski in the 12th inning, lining a curveball through the left side of the infield in a left-on-left matchup.

Larnach, sent to the plate after Cleveland intentionally walked Royce Lewis, was 5 for 33 (.152 batting average) against left-handed pitchers this season before his go-ahead hit. Luke Keaschall followed with an RBI single to left field.

If the Twins end up as buyers at the Aug. 3 trade deadline, Thursday will be remembered as one of those days that put the team in position to add. After starting pitchers Taj Bradley of the Twins and Gavin Williams delivered dominant seven-inning outings, five Twins relievers combined to pitch five scoreless innings.

Veteran reliever Tommy Nance, acquired before the All-Star break in a trade with Toronto, pitched a scoreless 10th inning. Anderson, acquired as a waiver claim and making his fifth career appearance, earned the save when he retired three of the four batters he faced in the 12th.

“A really fun game to watch,” Anderson, who was called up Tuesday, told Twins TV in a postgame interview. “It was just a battle. All the innings, I lost track of how many there were.”

The Twins have a 51-53 record, but things look a lot different after they responded to their four-game losing streak on their road trip with two wins in Cleveland. Next up is a six-game homestand where they will play host to the Athletics and the Royals, two of the bottom three teams in the AL standings.

“Especially the way we played in Chicago, we did not play well, to bounce back, it’s one of the few times going home 3-4 that I feel good about it,” Twins manager Derek Shelton told reporters in Cleveland.

The Twins tied the score in the eighth inning immediately after Williams exited. Lewis drew a leadoff walk against Guardians reliever Hunter Gaddis, then stole second before Keaschall worked an eight-pitch walk with one out. When the Twins inserted Alan Roden as a pinch hitter for Ryan Kreidler, the Guardians brought closer Cade Smith out of the bullpen.

Roden lined a tying RBI single to center on Smith’s first pitch, an elevated 97-mph fastball, firing up teammates in the visitor’s dugout.

Smith, an All-Star who leads the majors with 29 saves, had previously inherited 12 runners this season when he entered in the middle of an inning, and only two had scored.

Twins closer Yoendrys Gómez pitched around a pair of two-out walks in the ninth inning before Nance and Taylor Rogers pitched clean innings.

“I’ve only been here for three days, but it’s really cool to be a part of,” Anderson said.

Bradley gave the Twins their best start since the All-Star break, yielding two hits and three walks over seven innings while striking out five. He threw eight fastballs above 99 mph, striking out Brayan Rocchio with two of them when he was batting with a runner in scoring position.

Guardians catcher Patrick Bailey drilled a solo homer off Bradley in the fifth inning, an estimated 420-foot blast on a down-the-middle fastball in a 2-0 count. Bailey has five home runs this season, and three came against Twins pitchers this month.

As well as Bradley pitched, Williams was even better. The Guardians right-hander retired 21 of the 23 batters he faced. The Twins put only one runner in scoring position: Kody Clemens opened the fifth inning with a single to right field and promptly stole second base.

Clemens didn’t advance any further. Williams, who gave up a first-inning infield single to Byron Buxton, induced an infield pop-up against Lewis, struck out Austin Martin and ended the inning with a groundout.

Williams pitched an immaculate fourth inning, striking out Byron Buxton, Ryan Jeffers and Josh Bell on nine pitches, a feat that no Twins pitcher has ever achieved. There were five swings and misses, two called strikes and two foul balls.

It was the third immaculate inning a pitcher completed against the Twins, Williams joining Chris Sale (Aug. 26, 2021) and Michael Kopech (July 10, 2024).

Williams was the first Guardians pitcher to tally three consecutive starts with a double-digit strikeout total since Shane Bieber in 2021. He struck out 11 over seven innings when he faced the Twins on July 9 at Target Field, carrying a perfect game into the fifth inning, and he racked up another 11 strikeouts on July 18 in a loss to the Pirates.

The Twins, no matter how improbable given the venue or how many innings it took, found a way to end their road trip with a win.