Indians stomp Reds 10-3 thanks to strong 6th inning; three takeaways

CINCINNATI-- The Cleveland Indians are still in pursuit of the Ohio Cup after their 10-3 win against the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night.

With the win, they tied the season series with Cincinnati this year at two games apiece with two still left to play.

Mike Clevinger earned his eighth win of the year for Cleveland, while Homer Bailey picked up his 10th loss for the Reds. Here are three takeaways from the Cleveland win.

1. Sixth inning magic

In the top of the sixth inning, the game was tied 2-2 before the Tribe bats got to work.

The Indians scored seven runs on five hits during the frame to jump out to a 9-2 lead and steal the momentum for the rest of the night.

Yandy Diaz got things going with a one-out RBI double to plate the go-ahead run. In six games with the Tribe this year, Diaz has more than proven his worth with each plate appearance. He's batting 11-for-20 and slashing .550/.550/.700.

Michael Brantley, Jason Kipnis and Yan Gomes all also contributed RBI doubles, while Melky Cabrera chipped in an RBI single as well-- but the momentum-changing play without a doubt was Diaz's pinch-hitting double that got things going.

2. Sunshine's day

For the first time since the beginning of July 1, Mike Clevinger wound up in the win column.

Clevinger hasn't pitched poorly during his win drought; however, the Tribe has more often than not struggled to get him any kind of run support.

Through five innings, Clevinger gave up two earned runs on five hits while walking six and striking out four. Both of the runs Clevinger relinquished were on solo homers to Tucker Barnhart and Scooter Gennett in the second and fifth innings, respectively. He was replaced in the batting order in the top of the sixth inning by Diaz as the Tribe plated their go-ahead runs.

It's the first win that Clevinger has earned against an interleague opponent this season. He's now 8-7 in 2018.

.@Lindor12BC’s monster 2018 season continues. pic.twitter.com/gXyXxpNFOJ
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) August 14, 2018

3. Another impressive feat for Francisco Lindor

During the Indians' impressive sixth inning, Francisco Lindor scored his 100th run of the season putting him just ahead of Boston's Mookie Betts, who he had been tied with for the Major League lead entering play today.

In each of the last two seasons, Lindor ended the regular season with 99 runs scored. This year, he's hit the impressive milestone with 44 games still to go.

With 69 extra-base hits this year, Lindor is poised to become the 16th different player in franchise history to end a season with 70 extra-base hits and 100 runs scored. Only eight of those previous players who hit that mark did so with 30 or more home runs (Lindor currently has 29).

Lindor also crossed home plate in the seventh inning, bumping his run total for the season up to 101.