Sonny Gray dominates, Twins crush Cleveland in series opener
Sonny Gray tossed seven shutout innings while Gary Sanchez drove in four runs to help the Minnesota Twins win the opener of a five-game series with the Cleveland Guardians 11-1 on Monday night.
Pitching in the aftermath of the news that Wes Johnson is leaving for LSU, Gray brushed off any distractions with a dominant performance. He held the Guardians to just three hits and a walk while striking out three batters to make life easy on the Twins' lineup.
That was enough for Sanchez, who put the Twins on the board with a three-run homer in the second inning.
Sanchez and Alex Kirilloff delivered three hits on the evening and Gio Urshela piled on with two hits and an RBI single in the fourth inning. After Nick Gordon hit his third home run in the sixth, Carlos Correa smashed a two-run homer in the seventh to put Minnesota ahead 10-0 and make the rest of the game a formality.
The Twins will hope that Monday's victory set the tone when they face the Guardians in a doubleheader on Tuesday. Devin Smeltzer is set to start the early game for Minnesota while Josh Winder will make his return from the injured list in the nightcap.
