9 - 21 - 10 at Minnesota L, 6 - 4 62 - 89
Needing a win over the Indians and a White Sox loss to clinch their second consecutive American League Central Division title, the Minnesota Twins erased a three - run deficit, and then watched Chicago lose in Oakland. It was a bitter night for the Tribe because it has now been three years since they last won the division.
Drew Butera's 1st inning throwing error enabled Shin - Soo Choo to scamper into scoring position with two outs. That miscue loomed large when Travis Hafner blooped a RBI double down the left field line, scoring Choo.
Jim Thome evened the score in the bottom of the 2nd on his laser shot of a solo home run into the right field bleachers.
The next several frames were dominated by Cleveland as they scored three unanswered runs to take what appeared to be a commanding lead. The Indians got one of those tallies in the 5th when Michael Brantley hit a one - out single, advanced to second base courtesy of a wild pitch, and scored on Drew Sutton's RBI base - hit. The Tribe then took their 4 - 1 advantage in the 6th on a double play and a Luis Valbuena double.
Fausto Carmona was cruising at this point, but he hit a bump in the road in the last of the 6th. After picking up two quick outs, a walk and two singles plated a Minnesota run. However, Carmona still exited the game in line for the victory.
The Indians' bullpen completely fell apart in the 8th. Three straight hits to start the inning spelled the end of the night for Justin Masterson, and his replacement, Tony Sipp, didn't fare much better. Sipp surrendered the game - tying sacrifice fly, and then the eventual winning hit off the bat of Denard Span. The Twins wound up scoring four times in the inning.
Michael Brantley's strikeout brought an end to the contest, and set off a wild celebration at Target Field.
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