Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Cleveland 5, Minnesota 4
When: 8:10 PM ET, Monday, May 14, 2012
Where: Target Field, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Temperature: 84°
Umpires: Home - Mike Estabrook, 1B - James Hoye, 2B - Jim Joyce, 3B - Jim Reynolds
Attendance: 32313

Indians 5, Twins 4: Shin-Soo Choo singled home the decisive run with two outs in the ninth as visiting Cleveland snapped a three-game losing streak.

Casey Kotchman belted a two-run homer and had a key hit in the ninth as the Indians rebounded from an eighth-inning meltdown by the bullpen.

Kotchman singled to center with one out in the ninth and moved to second on a wild pitch by Matt Capps (0-2). Lou Marson entered as a pinch runner and scored easily on Choo’s single to center.

Kotchman’s fifth-inning homer gave Cleveland a 4-1 lead and Indians starter Jeanmar Lopez allowed one unearned run and three hits in seven innings before the bullpen squandered the lead.

Minnesota’s Josh Willingham laced a run-scoring double off Vinnie Pestano and Ryan Doumit greeted Nick Hagadone with a two-run homer into the second deck to tie the contest.

Joe Smith (3-1) got the final out of the eighth while Chris Perez worked the ninth for his 12th save in 13 chances.

Minnesota struck first in the third inning when Darin Mastroianni singled, advanced to second on a grounder, dashed to third on a passed ball and continued home when the throw by catcher Carlos Santana sailed into left field.

Cleveland plated second-inning runs on Travis Hafner’s grounder and Santana’s sacrifice fly.

Minnesota starter Carl Pavano allowed four runs and six hits in six innings.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera doubled in the third and is 2-for-29 against Pavano. … Willingham is batting just .136 in 44 career at-bats against the Indians after his eighth-inning double. … Cleveland reliever Dan Wheeler was designated for assignment and right-hander Jeremy Accardo was recalled from Triple-A Columbus. … Pavano was on the mound despite a sore shoulder that prompted a precautionary MRI over the weekend.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Cleveland   Minnesota
Jeanmar Gomez Player Carl Pavano
No Decision W/L No Decision
7.0 IP 6.0
2 Strikeouts 3
3 Hits 6
0.00 ERA 6.00
Hitting
Cleveland   Minnesota
Casey Kotchman Player Ryan Doumit
2 Hits 1
2 RBI 2
1 HR 1
5 TB 4
.500 Avg .333
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Cleveland 8 1 14 .242 11 6 5 3 0 1
Minnesota 5 1 9 .156 13 4 3 5 1 0