Cleveland Indians: 3 takeaways from the sweep vs. the Twins

The Cleveland Indians may have officially taken over the AL Central after a four-game sweep against the Minnesota Twins over the weekend.

This past weekend was a great time to be a Cleveland Indians fan and not such a great time to be a fan of the Minnesota Twins.

Twins fans may have been hoping for their team to take a commanding lead in the AL Central, but the Indians responded by winning all four games to open up a two-game lead in the division.

The Twins never scored more than three runs in any of the four games, while the Indians never scored less than five. It was the series fans have been waiting for all season, and several players on the team gave fans plenty to be excited about.

Let’s look at what stood out from the series.

1. Jose is on fire

Jose Ramirez finished with 11 hits in the series, two of which were home runs hit in Saturday’s afternoon game.

His average is now up to .313 and he has emerged as the most feared hitter in the lineup. Putting him in the third spot means Edwin Encarnacion usually has someone on base to work with, which actually led to the Twins avoiding throwing strikes to the slugger. But when they did, things got ugly.

While 11 hits is an impressive mark itself, six were doubles, and two were home runs. So when he gets hits, he makes a statement. In total, he has 16 hits in his last six games and will be looking to keep up the pace tonight in Baltimore.

2. Edwin emerging as a threat

Edwin Encarnacion did the casual task of driving in all five of the team’s runs on Sunday, helped by two monster home runs.

He finished the series with three home runs and eight RBI, while only striking out twice and drawing five walks. Three of those walks came on Saturday afternoon, when the Twins were flat-out avoiding him in favor of pitching to Carlos Santana.

Encarnacion now leads the team in home runs, RBI, and on-base percentage, while his average is third among qualified hitters behind Ramirez and Michael Brantley. He has officially arrived, making countless folks eat their words from earlier in the season.

3. Carried by the pitching

This series was a great one for the entire pitching staff, but the starters in particular.

Carlos Carrasco kicked it off with 6.1 innings of one-run ball on Friday, followed by solid performances from Ryan Merritt and Mike Clevinger on Saturday. Both only went four innings each, but it was enough to put the team in a great position to win.

Then Trevor Bauer brought it home Sunday, going seven innings and allowing just two runs in what may have been his best start of the season. If he keeps this up, his job will be safe for the rest of the season.

Next: Revisiting 10 bold predictions from March

It was a great weekend that has put the Indians back at the top of the division, but the winning must continue this week. It all starts today in Baltimore against a struggling Orioles team, so let’s hope the weekend magic wasn’t a fluke.