Series Review: Cleveland Guardians sweep Minnesota Twins to send them to 3rd place

The Cleveland Guardians swept the Minnesota Twins in a must-win series.

The three-team race for the AL Central is, at least for now, a two-team race. The Cleveland Guardians swept the Minnesota Twins over the weekend to drop the Twin Cities team to 4.5 back. The Chicago White Sox are now in second place and are currently two games back from the Guardians.

That’s due to the fact that as of press time, the Guardians have finished playing their game for Sunday, but the White Sox have not. Should the White Sox lose, they’ll fall to 2.5 games back in the division, while if they win, they’ll only be 1.5 games back in the division.

The Guardians will play 12 games over the next 11 days straight, five of which against the Twins and four of which against the White Sox. The other three are against the Angels. Thankfully, the first nine of those games are at home, while the last three are in Chicago.

This will be the last crop of games the Guardians have against the Twins and White Sox, so they control their own destiny. They could really end the Twins season by taking the five-game series, and the same could be said if they sweep the White Sox.

The White Sox, however, don’t have four consecutive games against the Guards. The Guards will play one at home against Chicago and three in Chicago later on after the team plays the Twins in Cleveland.

Cleveland Guardians vs. Minnesota Twins series review

Game 1 – Guardians Win (7-6)

A late-game implosion by James Karinchak and the Guards bullpen nearly ruined a great start by Cal Quantrill and an even better offensive output by the Guardians’ offense. Thankfully Oscar Gonzalez’s five-RBI game was not wasted.

Game 2 – Guardians Win (6-4)

The bullpen once again made a blowout much closer than it should’ve been, this time with everyone’s favorite reliever Bryan Shaw giving up four runs in the game. The offense was much more spread out during the game but Jose Ramirez led the team with three hits.

Game 3 – Guardians Win (4-1)

For what looked like the third game in a row, the Guardians bullpen nearly blew a lead in the 7th inning but the team was able to bounce back. James Karinchack seems to be repeating his last-season woes from 2021, as he’s once again become a bit erratic. Thankfully Steven Kwan and Myles Straw both had three-hit games to help push the Guards to the sweep.

Series Standouts

Steven Kwan

4-11, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 4 Runs, 4 Walks

Jose Ramirez

5-12, 1 RBI, 2 Runs, 3 Walks

Josh Naylor

5-13, 3 RBI, 2 Runs, 1 Walk

Oscar Gonzalez

6-12, 2 HRs, 6 RBI, 1 Walk

Emmanuel Clase

1.1 IP, 2 Ks, 2 Saves

Shane Bieber

6.1 IP, 7 Ks