Kyle Manzardo goes yard-o to cap Guardians comeback

CLEVELAND — There's something about the Twins that brings out the best in the Guardians this season. Trailing for much of the game after Minnesota chased starting pitcher Matthew Boyd in the third inning, Cleveland bounced back in a big way to notch a 4-3 victory in the opener of a four-game series Monday night at Progressive Field. Kyle Manzardo hit a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning to send the Guardians to their eighth win in 10 games against the Twins, who entered the night in third place — 6½ games behind first-place Cleveland. Closer Emmanuel Clase retired the side in order, striking out two to notch his 46th save and tie Jose Mesa for the most in franchise history in a single season. The Guardians trimmed their magic number to win the Central Division to eight, two to qualify for the playoffs, with their sixth victory in eight games. After striking out four over the first two innings, Boyd lost the plate in the third, walking two straight before allowing consecutive singles to Byron Buxton and Kyle Farmer — all with two outs — as the Twins went up 3-0. It was the second straight poor outing for Boyd, who allowed four runs on six hits in a 6-4 win over the White Sox on Wednesday. He surrendered more than a run only once in his first five starts for the Guardians. Cleveland went scoreless on three hits over the first four innings against RHP Pablo Lopez, who retired 10 straight after a one-out single from Will Brennan in the second. The Guardians finally broke through in the fifth to avoid their 15th shutout after Brayan Rocchio was hit by a pitch with two outs. Angel Martinez followed with a double to the right-field corner and charging shortstop Carlos Correa couldn't come up with an infield single from Andres Gimenez, allowing Rocchio to score. There was more offensive futility in the seventh, when Cleveland loaded the bases with no outs against Lopez but scored only once on Martinez's sinking liner to left to trim the deficit to a run. Martinez had a career-high three hits, reaching on an infield single to start the first. Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter @CAwesomeheimer.