No! Yes! No! Twins fall

Karen Paurus, Tony Dejak

Cleveland Indians' Victor Martinez celebrates after hitting a game-winning three-run homer in the 11th inning in a baseball game, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008, in Cleveland. Franklin Gutierrez and Jhonny Peralta scored. The Indians won 12-9.

An 8-1 deficit turned into a 9-8 lead, which turned into a 9-9 tie and ultimately an 11-inning victory for the Indians.

By JOE CHRISTENSEN, Star Tribune

Last update: September 17, 2008 - 8:49 AM

CLEVELAND — Twins manager Ron Gardenhire called it a heartbreaking loss, Eddie Guardado took the blame, and Joe Nathan sat on a chair reflecting, after giving up the first walk-off home run surrendered of his career.

On Tuesday night, the Twins made a bid to equal their biggest comeback win in team history but came away in defeat.

Down seven runs to Cleveland, they climbed all the way back to take the lead before Grady Sizemore tied it with a home run off Guardado in the eighth inning.

The game was four hours and 25 minutes old when Victor Martinez finally ended it in the 11th, with his three-run shot off Nathan, giving Cleveland a 12-9 triumph at Progressive Field.

In New York, the White Sox defeated the Yankees 6-2 then watched with delight from their clubhouse as the Twins fell 2 1/2 games behind with 11 games remaining.

Gardenhire gathered his players and commended them for not giving up after falling behind 8-1 in the third inning.

"It's a tough one to swallow," he said. "So many heartbreaking things tonight. You feel for those young men out there [in the clubhouse]. They're battling, they're really trying, and we're just kind of snakebitten. We can't keep the ball in the ballpark and it's not going our way."

Cleveland hit four home runs, including two off Francisco Liriano, who lasted just 2 2/3 innings after going 5-0 with a 1.57 ERA in his first eight starts back from Class AAA Rochester.

But Boof Bonser pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings of relief, allowing the Twins to climb back.

Justin Morneau snapped an 0-for-15 skid with his game-tying, RBI double in the eighth, and Delmon Young's sacrifice fly put the Twins ahead 9-8.

Gardenhire replaced Craig Breslow with Guardado, another lefty, to start the Cleveland eighth. Gardenhire said he wanted Guardado to face the switch-hitting Asdrubal Cabrera and lefthanded hitting Sizemore before turning to Nathan.

Sizemore was 0-for-7 with two strikeouts in his career against Guardado, but he drilled a hanging slider off the right-field foul pole for his 32nd home run.

"I'll take the blame for this," said Guardado, who registered his first official blown save of the season. "You've just got to keep your chin up. Like I tell these youngsters, as long as you play the game, those things are going to happen.

"You just don't want them to happen now because we're in the pennant race."

After first getting loose in the eighth inning, Nathan kept himself warm with intermittent throwing during extra innings.

He finally entered in the 11th, making his first appearance since last Thursday.

Franklin Gutierrez hit a leadoff single, Ben Francisco moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt, and Jhonny Peralta walked before Martinez hit his home run over the right-center field wall.

Nathan refused to blame his long warmup for his struggles.

"I felt fine when I went in," he said. "I just made a bad pitch to the wrong guy."

Twins relievers are 3-13 since Aug. 4.

"Obviously we're in a little bit of a hole now," he added. "But the good thing is our confidence, offensively. Everybody is still feeling good that we can score some runs and give ourselves a chance to win."

But to catch the White Sox, time is running out.

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