CLEVELAND — The Guardians hadn't hit Jhoan Duran all year. On Friday, they discovered they don't need to.
Minnesota's hopes of catching Cleveland in the AL Central suffered a ruinous blow on Friday, and the Guardians didn't even swing at the game-winning curveball. It bounced in the dirt, caromed to the backstop and allowed pinch-runner Ernie Clement to score from second base, securing a 4-3 victory that drops the Twins five games out of first place with 19 to play.
Duran, who had not allowed Cleveland to score in 8 1/3 previous innings against him, entered the game in the eighth inning and surrendered a soft-liner single to Josh Naylor, then a ground ball to right field by Oscar Gonzalez that might have been a double play if the defense hadn't been shifted far to the left.
