Tribe falls to Twins 4-3 after decisive 7th inning; three takeaways

CLEVELAND-- The Cleveland Indians fell to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night 4-3 after falling behind in the seventh inning. Cody Allen continued to

CLEVELAND-- The Cleveland Indians fell to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night 4-3 after falling behind in the seventh inning.

Cody Allen continued to struggle with traffic, picking up his sixth loss of 2018 after giving up two runs in the decisive frame. It's the 28th loss Cleveland picks up this year after holding a lead.

The Indians fall to 9-9 this season against the Twins, with one final game Thursday that gives them the opportunity to take the season series. Until then, here are three takeaways from Wednesday.

1. The collapse

When Cody Allen entered to pitch the seventh, Cleveland was holding on to a narrow 3-2 lead. But as has been typical of Allen lately, he ran into some lethal traffic.

After issuing two walks and giving up a single to Eddie Rosario (all with two outs), Allen gave up a two-run RBI single to Robbie Grossman. While Miguel Sano was caught advancing on the play to end the inning, Grossman's hit still gave Minnesota a 4-3 lead as the Indians headed to the bottom of the seventh.

Starter Adam Plutko earned a no-decision after going 5 1/3 innings and giving five hits, two earned runs, two walks, and striking out five.

2. Bats stalling

Cleveland finished the night with just eight combined hits, but three of those came in the first inning alone. The Tribe only had one other multi-hit inning in the fifth when they scored their third run of the night on an Edwin Encarnacion RBI double.

Ultimately, the Indians struggled stringing together hits and gathering much offensive firepower beyond what they did in the first inning, when they made it through eight batters and executed at the plate.

3. Another Lindor milestone

Even with the loss, Francisco Lindor added another season accolade. In the first inning he stole second base recording his 20th steal of the season. He joins Jose Ramirez as the second Tribe player to reach the 20-homer, 20-stolen base milestone this year. They are just the second pair of Indians teammates ever to do so in nearly four decades (Bobby Bonds and Toby Harrah, 1979).

The pair also become the first pair of infield teammates in Major League Baseball history to hit 25 or more homers and steal 20 or more bases in the same season.

In the first inning, Lindor also scored his 109th run of the season. He still leads MLB, and now has the most runs scored in a single season by an Indians player since Grady Sizemore scored 118 in 2007.