Indians Score 11 runs for Second Consecutive Night, Three Takeaways from 11-2 victory

CLEVELAND, Ohio - On Friday night, the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers began a three-game series.

This will be the final series of the first half of the 2017 season with the All-Star break next week.

Heading into the game the Cleveland Indians were one game ahead of the Kansas City Royals with a record of 45-39. The Detroit Tigers were 7 games behind in fourth place with a record of 38-46.

Following the Indians 11-2 victory over the Tigers, the Indians improve to 46-39 on the season. The Tigers fall to 38-47 on the year.

Here's our three takeaways from the Indians 11-2 victory.

1.) 3rd Inning Eruption

In the third inning, the Cleveland Indians scored a total of 5 runs and was just the start of the trend for the night.

Yan Gomes grounded out to begin the inning but things got started when Jason Kipnis hit his second double of the evening in his second at-bat of the night. Francisco Lindor followed with an infield single. Michael Brantley was next and hit a 2-run double to right field.

With two outs in the third, Jose Ramirez reached on an infield single. Lonnie Chisenhall added the 4th and 5th run of the inning once he hit a homer to right field and allowed the team to jump to an early 5-0 lead.

From the third inning on, the team did not look back.

2.) Carlos Carrasco Collects 11 Strikeouts

Carlos Carrasco was great once again. Carrasco improved to 10-3 on the year following this start and the Indians victory.

Carrasco had a final line of 7 innings pitched, 9 hits allowed, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, and 11 strikeouts. 11 strikeouts is now a season-high for Cookie.

This was the 12th career double-digit strikeout game in Carrasco's career and 2nd time with double-digit strikeouts this season.

Carrasco now has sole possession of 19th place on the Indians all-time career strikeout list with 784 and will be chasing Sonny Siebert for 18th with 786.

Carlos also struck out the side in the 5th inning with only 9 pitches. This is only the second time in Indians history for an "immaculate inning" to happen. The last time this was accomplished was when Justin Masterson did it against the Boston Red Sox in the fourth inning on June 2, 2014.

Carrasco reaches 10 wins in the first-half of the season for the second time in his career. He also had 10 first-half wins during the 2015 season.

Lastly, Carrasco has won five straight decisions dating back to June 11.

3.) Indians Offense Strong for Second Consecutive Night

For the second consecutive night, the Cleveland Indians emerged victorious with a score of 11-2.

Bradley Zimmer had a fantastic night going 3-5 with a homer and two singles. This was Zimmer's first career 3-hit game and in the sixth inning he hit his 5th career homer and hit his first homer against a left-handed pitcher.

Francisco Lindor had another 3-hit game with two singles and a triple. This was his 25th multi-hit game this season and is behind Ramirez (29). Lindor has four 3-hit games this season and has 27 three-hit games since the start of 2016.

With Jose Ramirez hitting an infield single in the 3rd inning he extended his streak to nine consecutive games in which he hit safely. During Ramirez's streak, he has hit .405 with 11 RBIs during that time.

In the last three games, the Indians have scored 28 runs and collected 44 hits.

The Indians will be looking to win their third consecutive game Saturday night and will be sending Mike Clevinger to the hill. Clevinger will be opposed by Justin Verlander.

First pitch is expected to be at 7:15 PM EST and will air on FOX.