MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Eugenio Suárez hit a two-run double and Brandon Williamson allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings as the Cincinnati Reds edged the Minnesota Twins 2-1 on Friday night, with the game decided by the kind of narrow margins that leave the losing side carrying the cost.
Who Got the Run Support
Suárez supplied the decisive blow in the fourth inning, when the Reds turned a scoreless game into a 2-0 lead. Elly De La Cruz doubled on a line drive to the warning track and advanced to third when Sal Stewart reached on a throwing error by third baseman Ryan Kreidler. After Stewart stole second, Suárez doubled to center to bring both runners home. That sequence gave Cincinnati the cushion it needed while Minnesota’s defense and pitching were left to absorb the damage.
Williamson (2-1) did the rest of the work for Cincinnati’s side of the apparatus, giving up three hits, striking out two and walking four over 5 1/3 innings. He also struck out Luke Keaschall with the bases loaded to end the third, then later got Keaschall to ground into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play in the fifth. Emilio Pagán followed with a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save, closing the door after the Reds had already taken control.
What Minnesota Could Not Convert
The Twins had chances, but the bottom line was a lineup that could not turn pressure into runs. Josh Bell had two of Minnesota’s five hits, and all five were singles. Minnesota went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners stranded, a familiar kind of waste when the game’s leverage belongs to the other dugout.
Joe Ryan (2-2) took the loss after allowing two runs — one earned — and three hits while striking out six in six innings. Minnesota finally got on the board in the fifth, when Brooks Lee, Ryan Kreidler and Byron Buxton walked to load the bases. Lee scored on a sacrifice fly by Austin Martin to make it 2-1, but that was as far as the rally went before Williamson shut it down.
The Scoreboard Decides, the People Pay
The Reds’ 2-1 lead held because the Twins could not cash in when the bases were full and the inning was theirs to seize. Williamson’s work in the third and fifth kept Minnesota from turning those moments into something larger, and Pagán’s clean ninth finished the job. Cincinnati’s offense did not need much more than Suárez’s two-run double, and that was enough to separate the winner from the side left with missed chances.
Cincinnati’s Andrew Abbott (0-2, 5.85 ERA) is scheduled to start Saturday against Taj Bradley (3-0, 1.25) in the second of a three-game series.