Twins reach sudden conclusion against Guardians, losing 2-1 after drawn-out start

Phil Miller, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Apr 30, 2025

Published in Baseball

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CLEVELAND — It barely rained at Progressive Field on Tuesday, and the Twins and Guardians followed the weather’s lead: Not much rain, and only a little bit of thunder in their bats.

No Twin ever touched third base during the long-delayed game except for during Ty France’s home run trot.

The Guardians had only slightly more traffic on the bases, but it was enough. Bo Naylor lofted a home run into the right-field seats in the fourth inning, and in the ninth, Kyle Manzardo launched a home run off Louie Varland, delivering the Guardians a 2-1 victory.

Manzardo fouled off a 1-0 change-up from Varland, who then tried another one — in a much more hittable spot. Manzardo pummeled the pitch down the line, and the Twins trudged of the field.

The game must have seemed so familiar to Twins starter Chris Paddack, who has started all three games in which the Twins have been shut out. Paddack pitched well, allowing only three singles and Naylor’s home run, but was lifted after five innings.

Brock Stewart, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran each pitched an inning of scoreless relief, but Varland, pitching the ninth inning for the first time all year, wasn’t so effective.

It was the Guardians’ first walk-off home run since Will Brennan connected last May 19 — also against the Twins.

France had three of the Twins’ seven hits, including his third homer of the year, a 396-foot blast to center field off Guardians starter Tanner Bibee. He also singled twice but was thrown out while scrambling back to first base on a base hit to left field, and pinch-runner DaShawn Kiersey was thrown out trying to steal after France’s ninth-inning hit.

The game’s start was delayed by 3 hours, 10 minutes, mostly thanks to some faulty forecasting. Believing that the game would be interrupted within an hour by a thunderstorm, the Guardians chose to cover the field and postpone the start.

After more than two hours passed with no rain, the Guardians’ grounds crew removed the tarp and began preparing the field. But before they could finish, word came that rain was arriving soon, so they covered the field anew, this time to heavy boos from the small crowd.

Finally, it did indeed rain — for less than five minutes. The Guardians announced that the game would begin 35 minutes later, at 9:20 p.m. — and that the 14,312 ticket-holders would be rewarded for their patience with coupons for free tickets.