Cleveland Indians Needed Recent Sweep of Twins

The Cleveland Indians could not afford to lose against the Minnesota Twins earlier this week.

The Cleveland Indians returned to Progressive Field Monday night after a brutal trip out west.

The 2-5 record during the trip had fans nervous about the team’s dwindling lead over the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central standings, but the return to Cleveland helped ease those concerns.

The Indians just finished up a three-game sweep over the Minnesota Twins, who entered the series with an 8-5 record against the Tribe this season. They also entered in the midst of a 10-game losing streak, leaving town losers of 13 straight.

On paper, the sweep of the Twins should come as no surprise. The Indians are a first-place team who should be expected to take care of the Twins, who have yet to reach 50 wins on the season. But the 8-5 record in favor of the Twins, along with the Indians barely being able to score throughout the past week, meant winning the series was not a given.

But the Indians were able to wake up, winning all three games and maintaining a 4.5-game lead over the Detroit Tigers, who finished off a sweep of their own over the Chicago White Sox.

Keeping the division lead at 4.5 games was the most important thing, but losing any of the three games to the Twins would have been cause for alarm. The Indians are a first-place baseball team, and cannot be dropping games against last-place teams this late in the season.

Baseball is a sport where two out of three ain’t bad, yet dropping a game to a floundering team like the Twins, while the Tigers are taking care of the White Sox, may cause some to begin questioning the team’s title chances.

One decision that could have led to a loss was starting Josh Tomlin on Tuesday night, after he has been dealing with a home run problem all season.

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It didn’t take him long to remind fans of that problem, as Brian Dozier hit a home run on the first pitch of the game in a start that only lasted 1 2/3 innings. He is now being skipped in the rotation for his next start as Terry Francona will look for a way to bring stability to that fifth starter spot until the Indians hopefully begin playing playoff baseball.

The sweep was also important because it can give this team the confidence it had before heading out west and allow them to move on from that 2-5 trip. After a deflating week, three straight wins is the perfect remedy.

While a lot of attention is put on each game down the stretch, the seven remaining games against the Tigers and the six against the Kansas City Royals are how the season will be decided.

Next: Ryan Merritt Should Replace Josh Tomlin

The Indians can sweep the Twins and then the Miami Marlins this weekend, but those 13 games are going to determine whether the Indians play playoff baseball in 2016.