The victory was Cleveland’s tenth straight and 15th in its last 16 games, and it brings the Guardians (84-71) to within one game of first-place Detroit in the AL Central, with a three-game series against the Tigers at Progressive Field on tap next for the rivals. The Guardians, who trailed the Tigers by as many as 15 1/2 games in early July, haven’t been this close to first place since they were a half-game out on April 25.
In the longest start of his career, Allen (8-11) one-upped rotationmate Slade Cecconi, who tossed seven scoreless frames in the opener. Allen allowed four hits, walked one and struck out seven.
Twins starter Bailey Ober (5-9) held the Guardians in check through four innings, allowing just two walks and a base hit by Gabriel Arias. But the bats came alive in the fifth inning, when seven hits — four of them with two outs — brought six runs across.
Brayan Rocchio led off with a single, and Petey Halpin followed with his first Major League hit, another single. Austin Hedges sacrificed the runners up a base, and Steven Kwan drove them both home with a single through a drawn-in infield for a 2-0 Cleveland lead.
Daniel Schneemann grounded into a fielder’s choice, leaving Ober one pitch away from getting out of the inning. And he almost did, when José Ramírez ripped a line drive right at first baseman Edouard Julien. However, the ball skipped off Julien’s glove and rolled behind him to second baseman Luke Keaschall. It appeared Keaschall would have enough time to get the out, but Ramírez sprinted down the line and beat the return throw to first base by a half-step.
That bit of hustle from the team’s best player led to four more runs. First, Kyle Manzardo hit an RBI single. Arias followed with a two-run double. And C.J. Kayfus had an RBI single before Ober finally retired Rocchio on a groundout.
The Guardians padded their lead on another two-run single by Kwan in the eighth.
