Indians fall to Twins 8-6 after late-game collapse; three takeaways

CLEVELAND-- The Cleveland Indians kicked off their final homestand of the 2017 season on Tuesday night.

The Minnesota Twins, who themselves are looking to clinch a playoff spot in the American League wild card race, are in town until Thursday.

After falling behind by two runs, Minnesota regained a lead in the eighth inning and never looked back, topping the Tribe, 8-6. Their magic number to clinch a postseason spot sits at one game.

Bryan Shaw picked up the loss for Cleveland.

Here are three takeaways from the loss, as the Indians look to rebound for win No. 99 tomorrow.

1. Eighth inning collapse

The Indians clawed their way into their first lead of the game during the sixth inning. Francisco Lindor hit a sacrifice fly to center on a 95 mph fastball to score Jason Kipnis, giving the Tribe a 5-4 lead.

In the following inning, Edwin Encarnacion tacked on an insurance run with a solo homer.

During the eighth inning, however, Cleveland began to falter and eventually gave way. Shaw came out to pitch, and after getting one out, gave up two singles and had runners on the corners.

Twins second baseman Brian Dozier took advantage of the situation, and knocked a 96 mph cutter to right field, giving Minnesota a 7-6 lead.

Minnesota scored one final run in the ninth inning on an RBI single from Byron Buxton to give them the 8-6 win.

Shaw picked up his sixth loss of the year.

2. Ed-wing

Despite the loss, Encarnacion had a stellar evening for the Tribe, finishing three-for-four from the plate with one run and four RBIs.

He's now driven in 103 runs for the year, and became just the fifth player in club history to record 100 RBI and 100 walks in the same season, joining Jim Thome (six times), Travis Hafner (two times), Al Rosen and Andre Thornton.

His home run was his 38th of the year, and it's also the seventh time he's gotten to walk the parrot this month. Throughout September, Encarnacion is batting .321.

3. Clevinger in relief

Last week, the Indians announced they were moving Mike Clevinger to the bullpen in preparation for the postseason.

In his first appearance as a non-starter, Clevinger came in during the sixth inning, and struck out two batters while giving up one hit in one inning of work. He threw 18 pitches, 11 of which were strikes.

Josh Tomlin got the start, but earned a no-decision after giving up eight hits, four earned runs and striking out three.

While this isn't Clevinger's typical role, he offered a glimpse at how vital he could be during the postseason.