Cleveland Sweeps Four Game Set From Minnesota, Takes Over 1st Place in A.L. Central Division

The defending American League champion Cleveland Indians got off to a lethargic start this season, while the Minnesota Twins were one of the early season surprises. The Twins, who had the worst record in baseball at 59-103 last season, found themselves in 1st place as the 2017 season reached mid June, in large part due to a superb 20-9 road record. So the four game Twins—Indians series in Minnesota the weekend of June 16th-18th, which included a doubleheader makeup from an earlier rainout, was of some importance and interest.

The Twins led the Indians in the Central standings by two games going into the series, but Cleveland dominated, sweeping the four game set and departing Minnesota in first place by two games. The Twins have not done well at home, and the sweep dropped their home record to 14-24.

Cleveland’s starting pitching has been disappointing, but seems to be coming around. The same could be said for the offense, with some big bats heating up. Edwin Encarnacion had a pair of homers and drove in all five runs in the series finale on the 18th as the Indians won 5-2. He leads the club in homers with 16, and is beginning to show the power that the Indians were looking for when they signed him away from Toronto as a free agent in the off season. Third baseman Jose Ramirez had a pair of homers in the first game of the June 17th doubleheader. He’s hitting .313 with 11 homers and 34 RBIs going into games of June 19th. Also joining in the hit a pair of home run sweepstakes was Lonnie Chisenhall , who hit his pair of homers in the nightcap of the doubleheader. Only one homer was hit by the Indians in Game 1 of the series, by Encarnacion, but the Twins were shut down 8-1 by Carlos Carrasco, who improved to 7-3 on the season.

Here’s the highlight reel from Game 1 of the doubleheader. Ramirez, a switch hitter, hit a homer both right handed and left handed.