Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Guardians

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
MIN	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	6	0
CLE	0	0	2	0	0	2	1	0	—	5	9	2

Kendry Rojas got the ball for Minnesota, and his track record coming in was a mixed bag — his last look on June 23 against the Dodgers went just 2 innings with 4 strikeouts but 3 walks, the kind of line that shows electric stuff and shaky control in the same start. Parker Messick walked out for Cleveland fresh off an All-Star nod, and his last time out was about as clean as it gets: 6 innings, 1 earned run, a win over Miami on just 91 pitches.

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FINAL

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ML

Total

Twins(49-52)

LLLWW

2

-1.5+245+144o7.5-104

Guardians(53-48)

WLWLP

5

+1.5-233-144u7.5+108

Best BetGuardians -149

Postgame

Cleveland won 5-2, cashing this pick with room to spare as the Guardians' pitching and injury edges both showed up.

Pregame

We took Cleveland at plus money early, catching value before the board caught up — that price has since collapsed to well over -140 as sharp money piled onto the Guardians, with the single largest tracked wager landing on Cleveland. Minnesota's rotation is down three arms for the year, while Messick has quietly turned into the best story on Cleveland's staff. The market's just now catching up to what was obvious from the jump.

The gap between the two rosters right now isn't subtle. Minnesota's rotation is a MASH unit — Pablo Lopez, David Festa and Mick Abel are all out for the year or close to it, with Festa reportedly headed to Atlanta this week for a second opinion on a possible recurrence of thoracic outlet syndrome. Cleveland's dealing with absences of its own, most notably Jose Ramirez, but MLB.com has reported he might not even need a rehab assignment before he's activated — which means the Guardians' lineup could be getting a real jolt back any day now.

Kendry Rojas

(1-1)·3.34 ERA

Jun 23 vs Dodgers

ND

2.0IP

1ER

4K

3BB

50P

07/21 Lineup

Parker Messick

(8-6)·2.57 ERA

Jul 10 @ Marlins

W

6.0IP

1ER

1K

4BB

91P

07/21 Lineup

None of that was a secret walking into Tuesday. Cleveland had just finished torching Minnesota 13-4 the night before with 7 home runs, and the Guardians looked like they were simply going to keep hitting until somebody stopped them.

Minnesota Twins

(49-52)

Jul 20L@ Guardians4-13

Jul 19L@ Cubs1-10

Jul 18L@ Cubs2-6

Jul 18W@ Cubs5-2

Jul 12Wvs Angels4-2

Cleveland Guardians

(53-48)

Jul 20Wvs Twins13-4

Jul 19Lvs Pirates1-7

Jul 18Wvs Pirates5-3

Jul 18Lvs Pirates1-7

Jul 17Pvs Pirates0-0

This one played out slower than the blowout that preceded it. The Twins actually struck first with a run in the top of the 1st and stayed within a run after adding another in the 4th, but Cleveland answered with 2 in the 3rd and 2 more in the 6th to take control, then tacked on an insurance run in the 7th. Minnesota's offense never found another gear — six hits and nothing after the 4th inning was enough to summarize the night.

Minnesota Twins

(8)

• 15-Day-ILMarco Raya (RP) — Raya (shoulder) struck out two and allowed two earned runs on one hit and one walk across one inning in a rehab appearance Saturday with Triple-A St. Paul.07/20
• 15-Day-ILConnor Prielipp (SP) — Prielipp (finger) struck out three and allowed no hits and one walk over three scoreless innings Sunday in a rehab start with Triple-A St. Paul.07/20
• 15-Day-ILAnthony Banda (RP) — Banda underwent surgery to repair his left lat strain and will miss the remainder of the 2026 season, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports.07/09
• 15-Day-ILCole Sands (RP) — Sands (forearm) tossed a perfect inning in his rehab appearance with Triple-A St. Paul on Tuesday.07/08
• 60-Day-ILDavid Festa (SP) — Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll said that Festa (shoulder) is scheduled to visit Dr. Robert Bowers in Atlanta on Tuesday and Wednesday to receive an additional medical opinion after the right-hander recently showed symptoms of a potential recurrence of thoracic outlet syndrome, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports.07/20
• 60-Day-ILMick Abel (SP) — The Twins plan to re-evaluate Abel (elbow) on Sept. 1, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports.07/20
• 60-Day-ILGarrett Acton (RP) — Acton (shoulder) struck out a batter and allowed three earned runs on one hit and three walks over two-thirds of an inning in a rehab appearance Tuesday in the rookie-level Florida Complex League.07/15
• 60-Day-ILPablo Lopez (SP) — The Twins placed Lopez (elbow) on the 60-day injured list Thursday.05/08

Cleveland Guardians

(3)

• 10-Day-ILAngel Martinez (LF) — Martinez (foot) started in right field and went 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles, a sacrifice fly and an RBI for Triple-A Columbus on Sunday.07/20
• 10-Day-ILJose Ramirez (3B) — Ramirez (hand) may not require a rehab assignment before his activation from the 10-day injured list, MLB.com reports.07/19
• 15-Day-ILTim Herrin (RP) — Herrin (elbow) struck out three batters in a scoreless inning for Triple-A Columbus on Saturday.07/19

Cleveland won it despite committing 2 errors, which says plenty about the gap between these two rosters at the moment — sloppy defense and it still wasn't particularly close. The Guardians push to 53-48 and keep pace in a division race where every game matters, while the Twins drop to 49-52 and have now lost 3 straight, all against the same two clubs.

Minnesota heads home to regroup with a rotation that's basically running on fumes, while Cleveland gets to ride the momentum of a series win and the promise of Ramirez coming back sooner than expected. Messick, for his part, just keeps building a Cy Young-caliber case start by start.