Indians Batter Bartolo, Pound Twins 8-1 Behind Five Homers; Three Takeaways From the Win

The Indians are finally starting to play like the team fans have been waiting for since 2017 began. Tuesday night in Minnesota they continued their success on

The Indians are finally starting to play like the team fans have been waiting for since 2017 began.

Tuesday night in Minnesota they continued their success on their latest critical road trip, pounding former Tribe hurler Bartolo Colon and the Twins 8-1 for their fifth straight win.

The offense was paced by no less than five homers, and once again the team got a solid start from Danny Salazar, who has been sensational since his return to the rotation.

Another night, another win, and here's three takeaways from the victory.

3. A Homer for You, and You, and You

All of the Indians eight runs in Tuesday win came via the long ball, five homers in all in the seven run win.

Two from Carlos Santana, and one each from Jason Kipnis, Austin Jackson and Edwin Encarnacion was more than enough for the Tribe.

Jackson's three-run blast put the game out of reach, making it 6-1, and Santana's second homer, a two-run shot, closed out the scoring at 8-1.

It was good to see the team not fall asleep against old pal Bartolo Colon, and they made him and Twins pitching pay all night long.

2. Sensational Salazar - Again

I think it's officially safe to say that Danny Salazar has regained the form that Indians fans have been waiting to see since he was an All-Star putting up big numbers in the first half of 2016.

Now at 5-5 on the season, Salazar went seven innings, allowing just one run on three hits.

He struck out 10 while running his mark to 2-0 with a 1.39 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 32.1 innings in five starts since coming off the disabled list on July 22nd.

The Indians clearly were worried about their rotation due to not only injuries but also their pitchers just not being effective, but that quickly has changed, and Salazar's outings have to be the biggest reason why.

With Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Salazar and Trevor Bauer all throwing well as this team starts to run away with the division, this foursome of starters might just be the best in the American League.

1. Starting to Put the Foot on the Throat

This win came with some attitude, just like Monday night in Boston, there was swagger the way the Indians easily dispatched the Twins on Tuesday in Minnesota.

The Twins had their eyes on making this a race with a month and a half left in the season, and they can still do that if the Indians go back into a slump, but on this night between the offensive power show and Salazar, it just felt like this is now clearly the Tribe's division.

The Tribe has outscored the Twins 56-16 at Target Field this season, a great sign with two more games to play there, and now leading the division by 5.5 games, they have the chance to really put some serious distance between themselves and the Twins and Royals over the next five days.

You just get a feeling this team has turned it on and it's all coming together as it needs to, now it's just a matter of keeping it going.