Cleveland Guardians at Minnesota Twins

Alan Roden missed out on a roster spot with the Twins in Spring Training, a victim of a roster crunch and of the fact that he had Minor League options. So he went to Triple-A St. Paul, put his head down and did what he’s pretty much always done: Hit. It wasn’t enough. After getting off to a strong start at St. Paul, he suffered a shoulder injury that almost certainly cost him multiple opportunities at a call-up. He was unavailable when Matt Wallner was optioned, and when James Outman was designated for assignment. He saw possible chances come and go, that he couldn’t capitalize on. But he kept his head up, got back to full health, and, you guessed it, kept hitting. Roden waited more than three months for his chance. And when it finally came, he jumped all over it. The second-year outfielder laced a two-out, bases-loaded, walk-off single in the ninth inning to give the Twins a hard-earned 6-5 win as well as a series win against the Guardians at Target Field on Wednesday night. It was the second RBI of the game for Roden, who had a game-tying single in the fourth. He was called up Tuesday to take the roster spot of Byron Buxton, who was placed on the injured list with a strained right hip. He’d never had a walk-off hit in the Major Leagues before. “You've got to play baseball where you're at and that's how I've always viewed it,” said Roden. “It's just wherever I am I've got to play as well as I can and do it for my teammates. I'm really happy to be here. Finally feeling really happy to get the call. It's awesome.”