Indians Vs. Twins Final Score: Cleveland Swept By Minnesota After 5-1 Defeat

The Cleveland Indians' woes continued on Sunday afternoon at Target Field, as Manny Acta's team fell short for the third straight game against the Minnesota Twins in a 5-1 defeat.

Indians starter Ubaldo Jimenez took the loss to drop to 8-10 on the season. Jimenez served up five earned runs through 6.1 innings despite six strikeouts, and left with his third defeat in his last four trips to the mound. Offensively, the lone bright spot of the day against Minnesota spot-starter Brian Duensing was the performance of Shelley Duncan, who finished 2-for-4 from the plate. Duncan knocked in Asdrubal Cabrera on a clutch two-out single to open the scoring in the fourth inning for his 25th RBI, but it represented the only scoring play of the afternooon for Twins hitters.

Now owners of an abysmal 6-11 record overall since the All-Star break, Cleveland will hope to turn things around on Monday against the Kansas City Royals in what should be a pivotal series.

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Indians Vs. Twins: Ubaldo Jimenez Starts As Cleveland Looks To Avoid Sweep

Ubaldo Jimenez, who made probably his best start in an Indians uniform last time out by shutting out a tough Tigers lineup over six innings, looks to stop the Indians' bleeding and keep Cleveland in the AL Central race.

It was just the fourth time Jimenez (8-9, 4.97 ERA) held an opposing lineup to zero runs in a Cleveland uniform, and they'll need a similar effort Sunday, or the Indians risk falling six games back in the division race.

On paper, Cleveland should be able to provide him with solid run support against Twins lefty Brian Duensing, who has a 10.13 ERA in 13 innings as a starter this season. He's starting in place of Francisco Liriano, who the Twins sent to the Chicago White Sox late Saturday in exchange for two minor leaguers.

Cleveland has lost seven of their last 10 games.

First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 pm CT from Target Field and the game will be televised on STO.

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Indians Vs. Twins Final Score: Cleveland Pitcher Justin Masterson Shelled In 12-5 Blowout Loss

Despite looking extremely sharp in a win over Baltimore earlier in the week, Cleveland Indians starter Justin Masterson was bombed for 10 runs (eight earned) on Saturday in a disheartening 12-5 loss to the Minnesota Twins.

Though he did not yield a run until a two-out blast from the bat of Minnesota's Josh Willingham in the fourth inning, Masterson quickly came unraveled in the middle innings. Bested by the Twins' stable of slap-hitting speedsters, Alexi Casilla, Ben Revere and Denard Span, the 6-foot-6 hurler quickly loaded the bases in the sixth inning and was never able to recover.

Indians catcher Carlos Santana did manage to slug out his ninth home run of the season to continue his power surge from the plate, but it proved to be too little too late. Santana is one of the few Indians players who has been able to turn things up since the All-Star break, and has now racked up three home runs, 16 walks and a sparkling .440 on-base percentage in the month of July.

Desperate to avoid a sweep that would drop his team at two games below .500, manager Manny Acta will give the ball to right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez for Sunday's finale from Target Field.

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Indians Vs. Twins Lineups: Changes Throughout Lineup For Cleveland In Game Two

The Cleveland Indians were absolutely dominated in they last outing, a 11-0 shutout at the hands of the Minnesota Twins in game one of a three-game set. They've now lost two of their last three and are falling behind in the AL Central race. The Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox are both ahead of them, and they're 4.5 games back of the lead. In short, the entire pitching staff is looking to rebound on Saturday after Friday's fiasco, and they'll be lead by Justin Masterson.

His counter will be Samuel Deduno, who is 1-0 on the season with a 3.94 earned run average. As far as lineups go, there's quite a few changes in the lineup. Asdrubal Cabrera, Lou Marson, Shelley Duncan and Jose Lopez are out, and will be replaced by Johnny Damon, Casey Kotchman, Jack Hannahan and Brent Lillibridge, all at the back of the lineup. For the Twins, Alexi Casilla and Danny Valencia replace Trevor Plouffe and Jamey Carroll.

Here are the full lineups for Saturday:

Indians

1. Shin-Soo Choo RF
2. Michael Brantley CF
3. Jason Kipnis 2B
4. Carlos Santana C
5. Travis Hafner DH
6. Johnny Damon LF
7. Casey Kotchman 1B
8. Jack Hannahan 3B
9. Brent Lillibridge SS

Twins

1. Denard Span CF
2. Ben Revere RF
3. Joe Mauer C
4. Josh Willingham LF
5. Justin Morneau 1B
6. Ryan Doumit DH
7. Danny Valencia 3B
8. Brian Dozier SS
9. Alexi Casilla 2B

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Indians Vs. Twins: Cleveland Looking For Offense On Road Against Minnesota

The Cleveland Indians (50-50) apparently forgot to pack the offense for their nine-game road trip after losing the first game away from home 11-0 to the Minnesota Twins (41-58) on Friday night.

DH Travis Hafner did bring his bats along, accounting for two of the three Cleveland hits on Friday. Another hit on Saturday will give Hafner a season-best five-game hitting streak but he will need some help for the Indians to win the second game of the three-game weekend series against the Twins.

Minnesota will start right hander Samuel Deduno (1-0, 3.94 ERA) in just his fourth start of the season. Deduno is coming off of a strong start in his last outing when he earned his only win against the Kansas City Royals by giving up six hits and one run in six and a third innings.

Cleveland will counter with right-hander Justin Masterson (7-8, 4.12 ERA) who will try to build on his recent success, as well. Masterson is 5-2 in his last eight starts, including a win over Baltimore in his last outing when he gave up just seven hits and one run over seven and a third innings.

Game two starts on Saturday night at 7:10 p.m ET and will be televised on SportsTime Ohio.

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Indians Vs. Twins Final Score: Bats Silent In 11-0 Cleveland Loss

Cleveland Indians pitcher Josh Tomlin lost his third straight start on Friday night. It was an outing he ought to be glad to have behind him after serving up eight runs to the Minnesota Twins on the way to an 11-0 drubbing.

Tomlin has surrendered 14 runs over all three of his starts since the All-Star break. On Friday, He struck out two, pushing his ERA up to 5.87.

He certainly got not help from his offense. The Indians' hitters mustered just three hits, two singles form Travis Hafner and another by Jose Lopez, over nine innings. Scott Diamond threw a complete game shut out for the Twins, picking up his ninth win of the year.

Game two is Saturday night at 7:10 p.m.

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Indians Vs. Twins: Starting Lineups For Friday's Game

The Indians will be in search of their fourth victory in five attempts on Friday night from Minnesota, as right-hander Josh Tomlin will get the start to open a three-game series with the Twins.

Fresh off a momentum-building series win over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday, Cleveland enters at 50-49 overall and a mere one game above .500 on the season. Hoping to key his team's offense for yet another game after homering on Thursday, Indians catcher Carlos Santana will take over first base duties to kick off the series in Minnesota with a day game scheduled on Saturday.

After opening the year on a bothersome power drought, Santana has exploded from the plate recently with three homers over his last eight starts alone. Now finally looking like the player that crushed out 27 bombs a year ago, the 26-year-old Santana appears be in store for a very productive second half.

Here are the starting lineups for Friday:

Indians
1. Shin-Soo Choo - RF
2. Asdrubal Cabrera - SS
3. Jason Kipnis - 2B
4. Michael Brantley - CF
5. Carlos Santana - 1B
6. Travis Hafner - DH
7. Jose Lopez - 2B
8. Shelley Duncan - LF
9. Lou Marson - C
Josh Tomlin - SP

Twins
1. Denard Span - CF
2. Ben Revere - RF
3. Joe Mauer - C
4. Josh Willingham - LF
5. Justin Morneau - 1B
6. Ryan Doumit - DH
7. Trevor Plouffe - 3B
8. Brian Dozier - SS
9. Jamey Carroll - 2B
Scott Diamond - SP

For more Indians coverage, visit Let's Go Tribe. For more on the Twins, head over to Twinkie Town. And for more MLB news and analysis, be sure to check out Baseball Nation.

Indians Vs. Twins: Cleveland Enters Minnesota Series On A High

The Cleveland Indians will face the Minnesota Twins in a three game series starting Friday.