Twins 4, Indians 2: Minnesota rallies late to turn back Tribe, takes advantage of Jose Ramirez error

CLEVELAND — From an Indians perspective, about the only intriguing aspect of Thursday night’s game was whether or not the Twins would retaliate for Jose Ramirez’s ballyhooed bat flip the night before.

Eliminated from postseason contention during the early morning hours, Cleveland took the field with nothing to play for but pride. The result was a 4-2 loss to Minnesota — with Ramirez emerging unscathed, well, sort of.

It was the second baseman’s throwing error that opened the gate for the Twins to score twice in the ninth inning and break a tie at 2.

“The game can be humbling,” manager Terry Francona said of Ramirez’s error. “I’m sure (the Twins) took a little extra satisfaction out of it.”

Minnesota rallied off closer Cody Allen, who relieved Bryan Shaw after Shaw allowed the tying run in the eighth.

Cleveland pretty much gave Minnesota both runs in the ninth, with the Twins scoring without an RBI hit. Allen’s wild pitch plated the go-ahead run, with Eddie Rosario moving to third and scoring on a sacrifice fly from Torii Hunter.

The Indians went scoreless over the first six innings on four hits against Minnesota starter Tyler Duffey. A two-run home run from catcher Roberto Perez put Cleveland in front 2-1 in the seventh.

Trevor Bauer’s return to the rotation wasn’t a triumphant one, but it was effective. The right-hander allowed just a run on two hits over seven innings.

Bauer, who was banished to the bullpen following a string of ineffective starts, didn’t allow a hit over the first three innings and surrendered his only run in the fourth on doubles from Joe Mauer and Trevor Plouffe.

“I thought he did a really good job,” Francona said. “He’s been through a lot the last month. For him to go out like that is certainly on a positive note.”

“It’s definitely nice to finish on a positive note, personally,” Bauer said. “I was just trying to make quality pitches, that’s pretty much it. It’s the same type of thing I always try to do.”

Bauer, whose season began well, finished with an 11-12 record and 4.55 ERA in 31 appearances (30 starts). He struck out 170 batters over 176 innings, walking 79.

“I think if you ask him, he’s going to be disappointed,” Francona said. “Because the last month’s been tough, I hope he doesn’t lose sight of the fact that I think he threw 175 innings and has room to grow. I think he knows that, and I know we know that.”

“I think it was a big step in the right direction,” Bauer said. “Obviously, there’s some things I need to clean up, but I won more games than I had before. I had more quality outings. I had 12 or 13 games where I pitched really, really well.

“It’s definitely going in the right direction. I look at it as a positive. Obviously, I can be better, so I’m going to work hard on doing that.”

Minnesota won for the sixth time in nine games to keep its postseason hopes alive. The Twins closed within a game of the AL’s second wild-card berth.

Ramirez drew the ire of Twins players and manager Paul Molitor on Wednesday night when he demonstratively flipped his bat in the direction of Minnesota’s dugout after hitting a three-run homer off Ricky Nolasco that put the Indians in front 10-1 in the eighth inning.

Molitor and Twins players shouted at Ramirez from the dugout, and Nolasco vowed retaliation after the game.

But batting leadoff, Ramirez was not hit nor thrown at in any of his four trips to the plate.

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