Roden's Walk-Off Single Sinks Cleveland After Blown Two-Run Lead

Minnesota needed nine innings and a ninth-inning walk-off to outlast Cleveland, 6-5, on July 8. Alan Roden's single to center — which swung the home win probability from 65% to 100% — was the decisive blow in a game that felt like it changed hands three times.

Cleveland looked like it had this one locked up early. Brayan Rocchio launched a 401-foot homer to left in the fourth, scoring Chase DeLauter and pushing the Guardians to a 2-0 lead. Rhys Hoskins immediately followed with a 383-foot shot of his own, and just like that it was 3-0. Back-to-back jacks off Connor Prielipp, who would finish with 6 strikeouts over 5.0 innings but clearly couldn't survive that fourth inning. Minnesota answered immediately and emphatically — a walk scored Brooks Lee, a sacrifice fly scored Kody Clemens, and then Roden singled to center to score Bell and tie it at 3. The Twins erased a three-run deficit in the same inning Cleveland built it. That's the kind of swing that should have been a warning.

Cleveland reclaimed the lead in the seventh. DeLauter singled to right to score Watson, and then Rocchio laid down a sacrifice bunt — only for the pitcher to boot the fielding error, allowing Kwan to score and Rocchio to reach first. Suddenly it was 5-3, and the Guardians appeared to be pulling away. What followed was a collapse. Minnesota loaded the bases and walked two runs home — Lee walked to score Keaschall, then Clemens walked to score Kreidler — and just like that, the Twins had tied it at 5 without a hit. Kody Funderburk had already done his part with a clean inning of relief (1.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 K), and the Twins' bullpen held the line long enough to set up the ninth.

Roden delivered the finishing blow — a single to center that scored Lewis and sent the home win probability from 65% to 100%. That's the story of this game: Cleveland hit two home runs, built a two-run lead in the seventh, and still lost because Minnesota's lineup refused to go away. Kody Clemens went 3-for-4 with an RBI, and Roden finished 2-for-5 with 2 RBI — the quiet, grinding production that outlasted Cleveland's power. The Twins are doing this, it's worth noting, without Byron Buxton, who was placed on the 10-day IL with a lingering hip injury. Minnesota looks like a team that knows how to win ugly, and on this Wednesday night, ugly was more than enough.