Emmanuel Rodriguez hit a home run in his first big-league plate appearance and the Minnesota Twins held on for a 4-3 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis.
Royce Lewis went 1-for-3 with an RBI for Minnesota (70-78), which evened the three-game series with the rubber match set for Sunday. Kody Clemens and Victor Caratini added one RBI apiece.
Travis Bazzana finished 1-for-3 with an RBI for Cleveland (75-74), which dropped to two games behind the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central. Steven Kwan and Brayan Rocchio each drove in a run.
Twins left-hander Connor Prielipp (5-7) picked up his second victory in his past three starts. He held the Guardians to three runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings, and he walked none and struck out one.
Guardians right-hander Franco Aleman (0-1) was pelted for four runs on five hits in two-thirds of an inning. He walked none and struck out one.
Twins left-hander A.J. Minter pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save.
Cleveland scored the first run in the top of the second. Bazzana singled to center to drive in Jo Adell from second base.
The Twins took the lead for good with a four-run fourth.
Rodriguez started the big inning with a 420-foot homer to center in his first at-bat. Minnesota promoted the outfield prospect before the game.
Clemens made it 2-1 with an RBI single to center, then Lewis followed two batters later with another RBI single to center to make it 3-1. Caratini capped the scoring when he was hit by a pitch in the foot with the bases loaded.
The Guardians pulled within 4-3 in the fifth. Rocchio notched an RBI on a groundout that scored David Fry, then Kwan added an RBI single that scored Austin Hedges.
Twins shortstop Kaelen Culpepper had to leave the game after he was hit by a rising fastball in the third. The team announced that Culpepper had a right shoulder contusion and that X-rays did not show a fracture.
