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Flurry of homers leads Indians to 12-2 win over Tigers; three takeaways from Cleveland's 7th straight win

CLEVELAND-- The Cleveland Indians kept their win streak alive and swept the Detroit Tigers on Sunday afternoon with a 12-2 win. The Indians had plenty of
Ashley Bastock|
Flurry of homers leads Indians to 12-2 win over Tigers; three takeaways from Cleveland's 7th straight win
Flurry of homers leads Indians to 12-2 win over Tigers; three takeaways from Cleveland's 7th straight win

CLEVELAND-- The Cleveland Indians kept their win streak alive and swept the Detroit Tigers on Sunday afternoon with a 12-2 win.

The Indians had plenty of offensive fire power, as Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, Jason Kipnis and Edwin Encarnacion all homered. As a team, the Indians set a new season-high with 19 hits.

Adam Plutko (4-1) picked up the win for Cleveland, while Dan Otero, Oliver Perez, Neil Ramirez and Josh Tomlin combined to throw three scoreless innings. Matt Boyd picked up the loss for the Tigers, giving up eight hits and six earned runs through three innings.

The Tribe has now won seven straight, their longest win streak of the season, and holds a season-high eight-game lead in the AL Central. They'll look to keep that momentum going as they head out to St. Louis to take on the Cardinals in a three-game set that begins on Monday.

Until then, here are three takeaways from Sunday afternoon's win.

1. Homer happy Lindor tacked on two insurance runs in the fourth inning when he homered on a high 1-2, 92 mph four-seamer to right center, plating Rajai Davis and giving the Indians a 6-2 lead. The homer arguably stymied any momentum for the Tigers, who knocked in two runs in the top half of the inning to get within 2. As a result of Lindor's homer, manager Ron Gardenhire pulled Boyd. It's the third time Lindor has homered in as many games, and is his fifth homer in June and his 19th this year. All five of his homers this month have come in the last 10 days. While he had a bit of a lull in the first half of the month after hitting 10 homers in May, it seems like the shortstop is back in full force swinging for the fences. Ramirez added a homer of his own in the sixth inning, his 23rd this year on an 0-1, four-seam fastball, giving the Indians a 7-2 lead. He is now tied with Mike Trout and J.D. Martinez for most homers in Major League Baseball this season. On top of the homer, he also extended his career-long on-base streak to 30 games with a single in the bottom of the second inning. His streak remains the second-longest active streak in MLB behind Shin-Soo Choo (37).

Not to be outdone, Kipnis knocked a long ball over the center field wall near the bullpen to get his seventh homer of the year and fourth this month leading off the eighth inning and giving Cleveland an 8-2 advantage.

But it was Encarnacion who had the homer of the game: a one-out grand slam that came in the eighth inning after the Tigers opted to intentionally walk Ramirez. It was his 18th homer this year and his 11th career grand slam, the first grand slam trip the parrot has taken around the bases since last season when Encarnacion did it against the L.A. Angels on July 25. He ended the afternoon with a whopping five RBI, and has now driven in a run in his last five games.

Combined, the trio of Lindor, Ramirez and Encarnacion have connected for 60 home runs so far this season. In Sunday afternoon's contest they went 8-for-14 with 9 RBI.

2. Plutko plugs away

Adam Plutko had another strong start for Cleveland, pitching on extended seven days' rest. He missed his last start on June 17 after pitching in relief against Minnesota the day before.

Prior to Sunday, his last start came on June 12 against Chicago, when he suffered his first career major league loss after allowing five runs on eight hits over four and two-thirds innings.

Against the Tigers, Plutko bounced back nicely in his third quality start this year, going six innings and giving up six hits, two earned runs and four strikeouts.

Sunday was Plutko's fourth major league win of his career. So far, he has certainly done enough to prove that he can hang in one of the best rotations in baseball ever since he was called up to spot start on May 3 against Toronto.

3. WE'RE GOING STREAKING!

It's safe to say the Indians are ending this nine-game homestand on a high-note. After dropping two straight to Minnesota last Friday and Saturday, the Tribe has rattled off seven straight wins before they head out on a nine-game road trip.

But Cleveland didn't just win these games-- they had plenty of blowouts along the way against American League Central opponents.

They have scored four or more runs in all of those wins, two of which were double-digit shutouts. With Sunday's win, three have been double-digit victories for Cleveland. Just against the Tigers through three games, the Tribe overpowered them 26-3.

The last time the Tribe won this many games in a row was, you guessed it, last year's 22-game win streak.

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Ashley Bastock
ASHLEY BASTOCK

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