Guardians blank Twins, cut Tigers' Central lead to 1 1/2

Bo Naylor hit a pair of solo home runs as the red-hot Cleveland Guardians pulled away for a 6-0 win over the Minnesota Twins in the first game of a day-night doubleheader Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis.

George Valera hit his first career homer for Cleveland (83-71), which won its ninth in a row as it continues its playoff push. The Guardians, who have won 14 of their past 15 games, are 1 1/2 games behind the American League Central-leading Detroit Tigers, who lost to the Atlanta Braves earlier Saturday.

Guardians All-Star Jose Ramirez secured his third 30-30 season, clubbing his 30th homer to go along with 40 stolen bases in 150 games. He also has two consecutive 30-40 campaigns.

Cleveland right-hander Slade Cecconi (7-6) struck out eight batters in seven scoreless innings. He allowed two hits and walked one.

Luke Keaschall and Austin Martin each doubled for Minnesota (66-88). Martin also singled for the Twins, who finished with only three hits.

Twins right-hander Joe Ryan (13-9) gave up five runs (four earned) on six hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out five.

Guardians left-hander Kolby Allard fired two scoreless innings of relief to preserve the shutout.

Cleveland jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first. Ramirez belted a 388-foot shot over the wall in right.

The Guardians' power surge continued with two solo home runs in the second. Naylor hit a leadoff homer to right-center field, and Valera followed two batters later with a drive to right.

In the fifth, Daniel Schneemann got in on the action with a solo home run to right. Brayan Rocchio doubled in the next at-bat, advanced to third on a single by Steven Kwan and scored on a throwing error by catcher Jhonny Pereda to make it 5-0.

Naylor capped the scoring with a 412-foot shot to right with two outs in the eighth, his 14th homer of the season.

Through the first two games of the series, Naylor has four hits and six RBIs.

--Field Level Media