The Indians arrived at Target Field this weekend with a chance to begin seizing control of the American League Central. Cleveland took a major step in that direction with a four-game sweep, culminating in a 5-2 win on Sunday that was powered by a pair of home runs from slugger Edwin Encarnacion.
Encarnacion’s display, which gave him 16 long balls on the season, backed a strong start by right-hander Trevor Bauer, and marked the third time in as many games that a Cleveland batter cleared the fence twice. With the win, the first-place Indians also moved two games ahead of Minnesota, marking the Tribe’s largest division lead of the year.
“We told him last night he could take the day off today. I’m glad he didn’t,” Indians manager Terry Francona said of Encarnacion. “He’s a very special hitter. And now we’re seeing it. For the first whatever, six weeks, it was a fight for him. Right now he’s getting locked in and is dangerous.”
After Jose Ramirez and Lonnie Chisenhall each went deep twice during Saturday’s twin bill, Encarnacion recorded the 27th multi-homer game of his career in the finale. Both shots were off Minnesota right-hander Kyle Gibson, who was handed the loss after allowing eight hits across six innings.
Encarnacion ended the afternoon with five RBIs, including one on a single in the seventh and one on a sacrifice fly in the ninth.
“Today could’ve been a really frustrating day,” Francona said. “We got the line moving, which we like, but man, we weren’t doing much with runners in scoring position. And then Eddie just kind of had one of those days. Thank goodness he showed up.”
Bauer, meanwhile, did his part to maintain the team’s advantage atop the division standings. Bauer, who was lifted after a leadoff walk in the eighth, gave up a pair of runs off four hits and struck out eight. At one point, he sat down 14 consecutive batters before plunking Kennys Vargas with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Eduardo Escobar then cashed in with an RBI double, and Eddie Rosario followed with an RBI single.
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