Kluber gets plenty of run support as Indians sweep White Sox with 12-0 win; three takeaways

CLEVELAND-- The Cleveland Indians completed their sweep of the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday afternoon with a 12-0 shellacking for their seventh shutout win of the year.

With the win, Cleveland improves to 40-33 reaching a new high-water mark of seven games above .500.

Corey Kluber became the first player in Major League Baseball to reach 11 wins this season in his 16th start.

Offensively, the team took an early lead in the first inning and never looked back. Here are three takeaways from the win.

1. One big swing for Ramirez

Jose Ramirez put the Indians up for good in the first inning when he belted a homer to center field on a 1-0, 95.7 mph four-seamer.

The long ball gave the Indians a 3-0 lead as Francisco Lindor drew a walk and Michael Brantley reached first on an error prior to Ramirez's at-bat. It was also Ramirez's 22nd homer this year, tying him for second in baseball with Boston's JD Martinez. Both sit just behind L.A.'s Mike Trout, who has 23 on the year.

In addition to extending his team's lead, Ramirez also extended his on-base streak to 28 games with the swing. The streak is a career-high, and is the third-longest active streak in MLB. Across the streak he is batting .284 (29-for-102) with nine homers and 19 RBI.

Question. What kind of 🐐 is the best 🐐?

False. JRam.#VoteJRam | #RallyTogether https://t.co/OwSEwwFjSs
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) June 20, 2018

2. Sixth inning triumphs

The sixth inning was icing on the cake for Cleveland as they drove in six runs to take a massive 11-0 lead. Edwin Encarnacion drove in two runs with a bases-loaded RBI double. He was then plated by a wild pitch.

Jason Kipnis rounded out the scoring in that inning by sending a 94 mph fastball over the center field wall, recording Cleveland's second home run of the game.

It was Kipnis' sixth homer this season. Five of those homers have come over the last 20 games.

3. KKKKKKKluber

When the bats are going the way they were today and Corey Kluber is on the mound, the Indians are basically impossible to beat.

Kluber picked up his 11th win of the year and his sixth against divisional opponents, going seven shutout innings, allowing just one hit and striking out seven.

The only hit Kluber gave up came in the second inning as Omar Narvaez singled to left field with two outs. He retired the final 14 batters he faced after walking Charlie Tilson in the third inning.

He's now won both of his starts against the White Sox this season, tossing 13 total scoreless innings.