Indians ace Corey Kluber overpowered the Twins in a complete game, the Tribe’s offense continued their weekend tear, and Cleveland ran away with an 8-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field. With the win, the Indians took two of three in the series.
“Oh, man. He established right from the first hitter of the game that he was going to strike one,” Indians manager Terry Francona said of Kluber. “He probably got stronger towards the end. He just attacked the zone with everything, and it was one of the better performances we’ve seen. Just start to finish, he was solid.”
The loss knocked the Twins (55-56) under the break-even mark for the first time since May 1. Minnesota, which is trying to remain in the chase for an American League Wild Card spot, has lost seven of its past eight games.
“It hasn’t been very good in terms of closeness of games and some of those kind of things,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “It’s been pretty lopsided.”
Kluber did not allow a hit to the first 20 hitters he faced and, while he did not achieve history, he did finish his nine-inning three-hitter in 100 pitches. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner ended with 10 strikeouts and one walk in the win for the Indians (51-59), who received a two-run homer from Abraham Almonte and a four-hit showing from Chris Johnson.
Aaron Hicks came through with the Twins’ only offense, plating Shane Robinson with an RBI double off Kluber in the ninth.
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