MINNEAPOLIS -- The Cleveland Indians hope Wednesdays rally

[blueberryjerry]

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Cleveland Indians hope Wednesdays rally will help turn things around. . Michael Brantley hit a sacrifice fly in the 12th inning and the Indians came back to beat the Minnesota Twins 9-8. Carlos Santana and Jason Giambi homered for the Indians, who won for just the third time in 10 games. Joe Mauer tied a career high with five hits for Minnesota. "When you get a win like today where you go back and forth ... its definitely crucial," said Mike Aviles, who had a pair of RBIs. Nick Swisher and Jason Kipnis singled off Ryan Pressly (3-3) to open the 12th. Swisher moved to third on a fly out and scored easily on Brantleys fly out to centre field. Chris Perez (5-2) blew a save but got the win. Joe Smith earned his second save, including a strikeout of Mauer to end the game. Santana homered off Glen Perkins in the 10th to give Cleveland an 8-7 lead. Mauer responded in the bottom half with a shot off Perez. The Indians, who trail Detroit by six games in the AL Central, were swept at home by the Tigers last week and then lost two of three at home to the Los Angeles Angels. After losing 3-0 to the Twins on Monday, Cleveland has won two straight. The Indians open a three-game series Friday at Oakland before playing three at the Angels. "We just need to keep trying to win series. I think the biggest thing is going game-by-game and hopefully the series will start piling up," Aviles said. Cleveland trailed 7-3 entering the eighth inning. After the first two batters reached base against Casey Fien, Brantley had an RBI single and Giambi followed with a three-run homer that tied it. "Im a strike thrower. Im going to pitch to contact, and today they got me," Fien said. "I left the ball up in the zone to Giambi, and he hurt me." Minnesota starter Kyle Gibson allowed six hits and three earned runs in 5 1-3 innings, the fourth straight start hes failed to go at least six innings. Josh Roenicke, Caleb Thielbar and Jared Burton pitched 1 2-3 innings of scoreless relief before Fien struggled in the eighth. "Caseys been lights out, one of the better setup guys in our league, since we put him in that role," manager Ron Gardenhire said. Looking to build on the confidence gained from pitching one-hit ball in five relief innings last Friday, Cleveland starter Carlos Carrasco allowed 10 hits and four earned runs in 4 1-3 innings. Carrasco, who was recalled from Triple-A Friday, is winless in seven starts this year and hasnt won since June 29, 2011, at Arizona. "Consistently, from start to start he holds his stuff very well, but he just makes too many mistakes. A lot of times you cant get away with one mistake to good hitters. Theres times where he makes one or two or three during an at-bat and hes paying for it," manager Terry Francona said. Mauer, who singled and moved to third on a double by Justin Morneau, scored on a first-inning sacrifice fly by Josh Willingham. Morneau then scored on a double by Oswaldo Arcia. Brain Dozier and Mauer had RBI singles in the second to give Minnesota a 4-0 lead. The Twins went 6 for 13 with runners in scoring position after going 3 for 48 over their last six games. Minnesota entered the game last in the American League, hitting .230 in such situations. Mauer hit a two-run single in the sixth and Chris Colabello an RBI single in the seventh to make it 7-3. NOTES: Mauer has five five-hit games in his career. The previous one was July 26, 2010, at Kansas City. ... The Indians have signed Cuban free agent RHP Leandro Linares to a minor league contract and sent the 19-year-old to their player development complex in Goodyear, Ariz. ... Twins GM Terry Ryan said that C-DH-OF Ryan Doumit is expected to be activated from the seven-day concussion DL "in the next couple days." ... Twins SS Pedro Florimon singled in the second to end his 19 at-bat hitless streak. ... Minnesota is scheduled to send Mike Pelfrey (4-10, 5.32) to the mound Thursday in the opener of a four-game home series against the White Sox. Chicago is scheduled to counter with Andre Rienzo (0-0, 2.95). ... Clevelands Justin Masterson (13-8, 3.59) is scheduled to face the As A.J. Griffin (10-8, 3.88) Friday in Oakland. . Huntelaar also had a penalty saved by Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio. The two goals brought Huntelaars total for the season to 18, level with Bayern Munichs Mario Gomez for most in the league. . As the only competitor to try two quads, much less complete them, Kovtun ended the day nearly nine points ahead of Japans Tatsuki Machida, who opened with a clean quad but then stepped out of the triple toe loop that was the second jump in his combination. . Speaking on Leafs Lunch with Bryan Hayes and Jamie McLennan on Thursday, Bernier said it was "very hard" at times being entrenched behind Jonathan Quick and is now excited at the prospect of getting an opportunity to compete with Reimer for the top spot with the Leafs. WINNIPEG -- Winnipeg quarterback Drew Willys injured shoulder could make him miss the Blue Bombers next game almost two weeks from now, and his future after that is unclear based on what the team said Monday. The Bombers say Willys status is week-to-week but that hes questionable for Winnipegs next game at home against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. "He will be re-evaluated at the beginning of next week," the team said in a brief statement Monday. The team didnt provide any more information about the nature of the injury. Willys throwing shoulder was injured on what looked like a hit from Alex Bazzie and Khreem Smith, as Willy was sacked late in the second quarter in their 25-9 loss to the B.C. Lions Saturday. After the game, coach Mike OShea suggested the injury might not be serious, although Willy watched from the sidelines in the second half as backup Brian Brohm struggled against B.C.s defence. At 27, Willy has been remarkably durable, or lucky, as far as injuries are concerned, with only a hand injury in practice that made him miss two games during his college career and none that have forced him to miss a game as a professional. This season he has hardly missed a snap let alone a game, despite hits that have left him bruised and limping off the field at times. It helps that this is Winnipegs bye week, which gives the team and Willy some time to recover or prepare. They dont have to play again until Sept. 27. The Bombers arent suffering alone.. . . Willy joins Darian Durant, Travis Lulay and Bo Levi Mitchell on the injured list. Like Willy, Mitchell went down Saturday, although in his case it was a leg injury, and also like Willy he hadnt missed a game this season. B.C. has veteran Kevin Glenn, who has already played most of the season for Lulay, and Calgary has Drew Tate if Mitchell cant return. But the Bombers have the untested Brohm to back up Willy. The Saskatchewan Roughriders have also been forced to go with rookie backup Tino Sunseri, who made his first CFL start Sunday, a 28-3 loss in Hamilton that gave the Tiger-Cats just their third win of the season. With Durant out, Saskatchewans hold on second place in the CFL West looked tenuous as they fell to an 8-3 tie with the Edmonton Eskimos after weekend games. Mike Reilly, the last starter standing in the West, completed 22 of 32 throws Friday for 271 yards and ran for two touchdowns as the Eskimos put away the Montreal Alouettes 33-16. Although the Bombers are in last place in the CFL West at 6-6, Willy has been the player who kept them in the game for much of this season. He leads the league in passing yards at 2,977, at least for now. The Bombers went 5-1 to open the season, although most of their games were against eastern teams that have struggled against every team in the West. The Bombers then started to play more in their own division and have a 1-5 record since, with that one win against the Alouettes. ' ' '

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