Brayan Rocchio hit a single that brought in Andrés Giménez for the winning run as the Cleveland Guardians, who are leading the AL Central, scored three times in the 10th inning to defeat the Minnesota Twins 5-4 on Wednesday night.
This win brought their magic number for clinching a playoff spot down to one.
Kyle Manzardo and Will Brennan both got RBI singles off Ronny Henriquez (1-1) before Michael Tonkin came in and allowed Rocchio’s second career walk-off hit, which was a grounder to right field through an infield that was in close.
“It’s awesome being with all these guys on the team,” Rocchio said. “That’s a special moment for me. I talked to (manager Stephen) Vogt before the game and he told me, ‘Hey, today you have a chance to win the game,’ and you saw what happened.”
The Guardians now have the most comeback wins in the league this season with 41. They can secure a playoff spot on Thursday with a victory over Minnesota.
Josh Naylor hit two solo home runs and scored three times for Cleveland, which is six games ahead of Kansas City in the division with nine games left to play.
Naylor’s first homer was a 445-foot shot to right-center, marking his first 30-home run season.
“The biggest game of the year and look what we do,” Brennan said. “The youngest guys on the team get it done. These guys are so prepared, it’s unbelievable.”
The Twins took a 4-2 lead in the top of the 10th inning thanks to Carlos Correa’s two-run single off Hunter Gaddis (5-3). Correa had four RBIs in the game and extended his hitting streak to 16 games, tying his career high from 2019 with Houston.
“I was excited about that at-bat and it was a good moment, but it wasn’t good enough,” Correa said. “You just have to keep fighting. It’s a tough sport.”
