MINNEAPOLIS – Travis Bazzana knew if he kept getting on base, eventually someone would drive him in. And it happened just in time for the Guardians. Bazzana had two singles, walked twice and scored the go-ahead run in the ninth on a wild pitch as the Guardians rallied to defeat the Twins, 5-2, on Friday at Target Field. “I'm relaxed in the box. Everything feels smooth, and early and easy, and when I'm doing that, I'm tracking the ball well,” said Bazzana, who has nine hits and four walks in his past six games. “If I'm seeing the ball early out of the hand, good things happen after that.” Manager Stephen Vogt put it even more simply: “When we get guys on base, good things happen, and Baz got it going for us every time out there.” With Toronto’s 7-4 loss to Baltimore earlier in the day, the Guardians stretched their lead to two games over the Blue Jays in the race for the third American League Wild Card spot. And with the White Sox losing 7-3 to the Cardinals, the Guardians are just a half-game back in the AL Central. “Every single day, we just want to win,” said Angel Martínez, who had two huge extra-base hits in the late innings. “We're just going to go out there and try to win. So no pressure at all. Like, that's how we play. That's what we do.” Bazzana got on base to start an inning in each of his four plate appearances. He finally came around to score in the seventh when Martínez launched a first-pitch fastball from lefty A.J. Minter a Statcast-projected 445 feet into the stands in left-center.
