Cleveland Indians Finally Take Series From Twins with 6-1 Win

The Cleveland Indians finally took a series from the lowly Minnesota Twins with a 6-1 victory Sunday afternoon at Target Field. It took three tries but the Indians finally beat the Twins in a series, taking two out of three in Minnesota. The win moved the Tribe to 54-37 on the season, maintaining their hold on the best record in the American League and their 6.5 game lead in the Central Division. The loss dropped the Twins to 33-58.

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Tribe starter Josh Tomlin was at the top of his game Sunday afternoon, going 7 2/3 innings allowing just a single run on six hits. He moved to 10-2 on the season with the win while walking just one and striking out four. The lone run the Twins scored came via a Max Kepler solo home run in the bottom of the 6th inning. It was his ninth of the season and made it 4-1 Indians. Reliever Austin Adams worked the last 1 1/3 innings to preserve the 6-1 win.

The Tribe got to Twins’ starter Kyle Gibson (L, 2-6) for four runs over six innings. Mike Napoli got the scoring started in the top of the 2nd inning with his 20th home run of the season, a mammoth 449-foot solo shot to left field putting the Tribe up 1-0. Francisco Lindor extended the lead to 2-0 in the 5th inning with a RBI single to center field scoring Carlos Santana, who extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a single of his own.

Chris Gimenez would deliver the biggest hit of the afternoon, a two-out, two-run single scoring both Tyler Naquin and Abraham Almonte and extending the Tribe’s lead to 4-0 in the 6th inning. Gimenez came on in relief of Yan Gomes who had to leave the game in the top of the 5th inning after tripping over the first base bag and hurting his shoulder. Per Jordan Bastian, Gomes will be heading back to Cleveland for further tests.

The Indians were able to add two more runs on a pair of solo home runs, one by Naquin and one by Jason Kipnis. It was Naquin’s 10th of the season and Kipnis’s 15th. In addition to his home run, Kipnis reached base three other times going 3 for 4 with a walk. Every single Indian who recorded an at-bat got at least one hit.

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With Gomes heading to Cleveland the Indians will need to add an extra catcher before Monday’s game in Kansas City against the Royals. Injured catcher Roberto Perez caught nine innings in a rehab assignment with the Columbus Clippers Saturday night and was scratched from his start Sunday, leading to believe he could be on his way to Kansas City though the team has not confirmed this. The Indians will take on the Royals in a three-game series with ace Corey Kluber (9-8, 3.61) getting the start in the opener against Edinson Volquez (8-8, 4.85).