Cleveland Indians Sweep Royals, Move Into 1st Place in A.L. Central

It looks like the defending World Series champion Kansas City Royals have some serious competition in the American League Central race. The first place Royals went into Cleveland for a four game series June 2nd-5th, and left town in 2nd place, a game and a half back of the Indians, who took over the division lead with the sweep. Cleveland has taken six of seven games with its division rival so far this season.

Cleveland outscored Kansas City 25-6 in the four games, topped off with a 7-0 shutout in the series finale.

The Indians’ bats were hot in the series but the defense and pitching was good too. Cleveland’s pitching has been led by Josh Timlin (8-1, 3.54 ERA) and Danny Salazar (6-3, 2.24, 81 strikeouts). The Indians had been without righthander Carlos Carrasco for much of the season due to injury, but he’s back now and pitched effectively in the series opener, his first action since April.

Things are tight right now in the A.L. Central, with the Chicago White Sox (three games behind Cleveland) and the Detroit Tigers (3 ½ back) right behind the Indians and Royals going into games of June 6th.