Pablo López departs after four innings because of injury as Twins fall to surging Guardians 6-2

Pablo López grabbed the loose baseball and shoveled it to first baseman Kody Clemens in one motion, retiring Angel Martínez by a step. López briefly laid on the grass, face down and arms akimbo, as though dead.

Think of it as a metaphor for the Twins’ season.

López laughed as he got up, but the death-defying play did its damage. He left an inning later because of tightness in his right forearm that was a result of the dive. Forced to rely on their overburdened bullpen, the Twins eventually lost their third consecutive game, 6-2 to the Guardians at Target Field.

Now they have to hope they haven’t lost their highest-paid player for another extended period, too.

“My mind definitely takes me to worst-case scenarios, which is less than ideal,” said López, who missed the 2014 season after undergoing Tommy John elbow ligament surgery when he was 18. “I’m trying to remember what I felt 12 years ago when I blew my elbow out, and I’m probably not helping my case. But I have to wait to get imaging done tomorrow.”

López — making his third start after missing three months this season because of a shoulder strain — gave up two runs in the first inning, when a light rain made gripping the baseball difficult. Cleveland catcher Bo Naylor looped a two-out line drive into right field in that inning, scoring Steven Kwan and Jose Ramirez. But López responded by giving up only a walk and a harmless two-out double over the rest of his outing.

Trouble is, his outing lasted only four innings, thanks to that diving play, which turned Martínez’s hot grounder off López’s left heel into an out to lead off the third inning.

By everything, he means “something felt tense, something felt a little tight, something didn’t feel all the way right” in the fourth inning. He approached head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta after the inning.

“I kind of told him what I was dealing with, so we made the decision of stopping right there and then,” López said. “I went back and looked at that play. It wasn’t as graceful as I thought it was, and then I saw the kind of weird motion in the forearm or elbow that I put on those muscles.”

With López out, Cody Laweryson and Kody Funderburk kept the Guardians scoreless until the eighth, but Cole Sands and Michael Tonkin could not do the same.

José Ramirez smacked a Sands fastball the opposite way into the right-field corner for a two-out double. It was also Ramirez’s 100th career hit at Target Field, which trails only Miguel Cabrera (115) and Salvador Perez (113) for hits by a visiting player.

The Twins intentionally walked Kyle Manzardo, a strategy that backfired when, after both runners stole bases, Naylor pulled a hard grounder into right field, scoring both Ramirez and Manzardo. It was the fifth consecutive outing in which Sands has been scored upon, a stretch in which he has lost three times and could have lost a fourth were it not for a three-run, ninth-inning rally vs. Arizona on Sept. 12.

BOXSCORE: Cleveland 6, Twins 2

MLB standings

The Twins, meanwhile, managed only six hits, five of them singles, and went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position. They did put together enough offense to tie the score with a pair of runs in the sixth, but the Guardians, who have trimmed eight games this month off the Tigers’ division lead, didn’t allow a baserunner in the final three innings.

Austin Martin led off the Twins’ meager rally with a dribbler to the left side, and stood on second base after Guardians rookie starter Parker Messick picked it up, whirled and bounced a throw past Manzardo at first base. Luke Keaschall then doubled to right, though Martin, who tagged up thinking right fielder C.J. Kayfus would catch it, only reached third base.

But Messick threw a wild pitch, allowing Martin to score. Matt Festa, no relation to the Twins’ David Festa, relieved Messick and was greeted by Royce Lewis’ line drive to left field, a game-tying single.