CLEVELAND — Sonny Gray turned an emotional, distracting day for the Twins into a dominant one.
The right-hander pitched seven superb innings and Gary Sanchez homered and drove in four runs to help Minnesota stretch its lead in the AL Central with an 11-1 blowout of the Cleveland Guardians on Monday night.
When they arrived in Cleveland on Sunday night ahead of the five-game series, the first-place Twins were rocked by news that pitching coach Wes Johnson is leaving to take over at LSU.
“I’m happy for him. I really am,” manager Rocco Baldelli said before the game. “This is the best move for Wes. I love him and I love everything that he’s done for this organization. We’re all going to miss him.”
The decision was felt throughout Minnesota’s clubhouse, but especially among the team’s pitchers.
Gray, acquired in March from Cincinnati, had grown close to Johnson and said he doesn’t want him to go.
“It’s a tough one,” said the right-hander, who allowed just three singles Monday night. “It’s someone who I became really close with and I think if you know me at all, letting people in and getting into relationships in that respect, I put my guard up a lot.
“I was mad at him a lot today. I was happy for him a lot today. I used every emotion and kind of everything that was going through, I kind of used it to pour into the game.”
Sanchez hit a three-run homer in the second inning off Triston McKenzie (4-6), sending the first-place Twins on their way to an easy win. Nick Gordon and Carlos Correa added two-run homers for Minnesota, now three games up on Cleveland.
The Guardians had briefly moved atop the division last week after rallying to win two of three in Minneapolis, but they’ve lost five straight. These rivals will play a day-night doubleheader Tuesday and are meeting eight times in 10 days before not seeing each other again until September.
“It was really nice to come away with the first one,” Gray said. “We got four more of these things in the next three days, so it’s going to be hopefully a good three days for us.”
Gray (4-1) never let the Guardians get going. He gave up hits in each of the first two innings, then retired 15 of 16 before walking Jose Ramirez to start the seventh – his first walk allowed in 22 innings.
“He’s really good,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “Now that he’s starting to get lengthened out where he’s not on a pitch count, he can go pitch. He changes speeds. He…