Duffey makes amends, helps Twins top Cleveland 4-1

Maybe it was first-game jitters. Maybe it was the lineup he was facing. Or the country he was in.

Tyler Duffey's major league debut Aug. 5 in Toronto was an abomination that lasted two innings. He was sent back to the minors after the six-run outing, uncertain when he would get another chance.

Injuries have put the Twins rotation in flux, and Duffey was needed again Saturday. And he promptly showed that he was not the pitcher who was mashed in Canada.

Duffey held Cleveland hitless his first trip through the order. And his second time, too. In fact, Francisco Lindor's double with one out in the sixth — right about the point where one starts to wonder about a no-no — was the Indians' first and only hit off Duffey in the Twins' 4-1 victory.

"Anyone who says they aren't aware [of a no-hitter] isn't paying attention to the game or they don't want to see it," said Duffey, who received polite applause from the announced crowd of 30,601 at Target Field after Lindor's hit.

"You end up playing games in your head to see how long you can keep it going. You are not trying to go out there and throw a no-hitter. If it happens, it happens."

Duffey gave up that one hit and five walks over six innings while striking out seven. He induced nine groundball outs and two pop-ups to Trevor Plouffe. For his efforts, Duffey got to remain in the majors; the Twins named him the starter for Thursday's game in Baltimore.

After facing a powerful Toronto lineup in his debut, Duffey, 24, faced an Indians team that began the night 12th in runs scored in the American League and was without injured All-Star second baseman Jason Kipnis.

It seemed like a step down in class, but Duffey still had to execute. His curveball clicked all night. He was able to throw it for strikes then get hitters to chase the pitch as it tumbled toward the dirt.

"That completely changes the game," said Duffey, who threw 94 pitches, 28 of them curveballs. "They can't just look for fastball. They have to look for that too. I gave us a chance to win, that's all I can do."

After Lindor doubled in the sixth, Duffey issued a two-out walk to Carlos Santana but got Giovanny Urshela to ground out to short to end the inning.

The Twins backed Duffey with three home runs. Eddie Rosario showed he can be a bad-ball hitter in the fifth when he belted an eye-high fastball from Josh Tomlin to right for a 401-foot home run and the first run of the game.

"I'm not sure how he hit that ball," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "He swings at enough of them. I guess the odds were that he was going to run into one."

Chris Herrmann followed with his own shot to right to give the Twins a 2-0 lead. It was only the second time this season the Twins have hit back-to-back home runs. Brian Dozier made it 4-0 with a two-run homer in the eighth.

The bullpen protected the lead. Casey Fien pitched the seventh, Kevin Jepsen the eighth. Glen Perkins gave up a pair of doubles in the ninth as Cleveland finally scored.

And Duffey had the ball from his first major league victory in his stall as he spoke with reporters after the game.

"To respond after a really tough first outing — we all know what happened in Toronto — he came back and he settled in early," Molitor said. "And to put up the zeros to give us a chance was really huge for us."