Arcia’s walk-off homer downs Tribe

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS

Oswaldo Arcia led off the ninth inning with a home run off of Zach McAllister to lift the Minnesota Twins to a 4-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Monday night.

Brian Dozier added a two-run double and the heavily taxed Twins bullpen gave up one run over the final 41/3 innings to snap a three-game skid. Kevin Jepsen (1-3) pitched the ninth for the win.

Yan Gomes homered and Michael Brantley made his season debut with a pinch-hit appearance in the eighth inning for the Indians, who had a three-game winning streak snapped. McAllister (1-1) gave up his first run in nine appearances this season.

McAllister had only allowed one hit this season when he took the mound against the free-swinging Twins. But Arcia sent a drive deep into the right field seats for his third home run of the season and was mobbed at home plate by the desperate Twins.

Danny Salazar gave up three runs on three hits and walked four in 42/3 innings for the Indians.

Tommy Milone didn’t get out of the fifth himself. He gave up two runs on seven hits and struck out five in 42/3.

The Twins struck out just five times on Monday, a significant improvement after fanning 38 times in their final two games in Washington over the weekend. That included 20 strikeouts in a 16-inning loss to the Nationals on Sunday.

Brantley, an All-Star in 2014, missed the first 17 games while recovering from right shoulder surgery. He was originally slated to make his debut on Tuesday, but manager Terry Francona sent him to the plate with two outs, runners on the corners, and the score tied 3-3 in the eighth inning. Brantley flew out to left field and finished the game in the outfield.

Salazar breezed through four innings, but got out of whack in the fifth. He had a balk, a wild pitch and gave up a two-run double down the line to Dozier, who was hitting .187 when he came to the plate.

Miguel Sano added a cue-shot single off of Jeff Manship to push the Twins ahead 3-2.