Corey Kluber struck out a career-high 14 for the second straight start to lead visiting Cleveland to a win in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Michael Bourn had three hits and scored three times while Jose Ramirez and Michael Brantley drove in two runs apiece to help pull the Indians remain 3 1/2 games behind the second wild card in the American League. Kluber (17-9) followed up his first 14-strikeout effort Tuesday against Houston with another gem, letting up two runs and seven hits with one walk in eight innings.
Chris Herrmann and Danny Salazar each registered an RBI double to pace Minnesota, which dropped the season series 8-11. Making his third start of the year, Anthony Swarzak (3-2) was knocked around for five runs - three earned - and eight hits in 41⁄3 innings.
Kluber struck out a pair in the first and second innings, but Herrmann’s run-scoring double in the second gave the Twins the early edge. Four straight hits in the top of the third - including an RBI single by Ramirez and an RBI double by Brantley - gave Cleveland the lead for good.
An error, two walks, a balk and a sacrifice fly helped the Indians plate three more in the fifth, and Ramirez and Brantley provided RBIs in a seventh-inning rally to make it 7-2. Kluber struck out at least two batters in each of the first six innings and fanned Joe Mauer swinging for the first out of the eighth to tie his personal best as he seized the major-league lead with 258 punchouts on the season.
Cleveland 7, Twins 2
CLE ab r h bi MIN ab r h bi
Bourn cf 5 3 3 0 Santana ss 3 0 1 1
Ramirez ss 4 1 2 2 Dozier 2b 4 0 1 0
Brantly lf 5 1 3 2 Mauer dh 4 0 1 0
Santana 1b 3 0 2 0 Vargas 1b 4 0 0 0
Murphy rf 3 0 0 0 Plouffe 3b 4 0 1 0
Holt ph 1 0 0 0 Arcia rf 4 0 0 0
Gomes c 4 0 0 1 Pinto c 4 1 1 0
Kipnis dh 5 0 2 0 Hrrmann lf 4 1 2 1
Shuck pr 0 0 0 0 Schafer cf 3 0 0 0
Chsnhll 3b 4 1 1 0
Aviles 2b 5 1 1 0
Totals 39 7 14 5 Totals 34 2 7 2
Cleveland 002 032 000 - 7
Minnesota 010 010 000 - 2
E-Dozier 1, D.Santana 1. LOB-Minnesota 6, Cleveland 11. 2B-Bourn (16), Brantley (43), Herrmann (2), Kipnis (25), D.Santana (24).
IP H R ER BB SO
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Cleveland
Kluber W, 17-9 8 7 2 2 1 14
Hagadone 1 0 0 0 0 1
Minnesota
Swarzak L, 3-2 4 Z\c 8 5 3 2 2
Pressly Z\c 0 0 0 0 0
Thompson 1 Z\c 3 2 2 1 2
Darnell 2 2 0 0 1 1
Fien 1 1 0 0 0 1
Inherited runners-scored-Pressly 3-1, Thompson 2-0.
Umpires-Home, Manny Gonzalez; First, Jim Reynolds; Second, Fieldin Culbreth; Third, Brian Knight.
T-3:8. A-24,451 (42,035)
