Indians win 99th Game of 2017, Top Twins 4-2; Three Takeaways From the Victory

CLEVELAND - The heat remains on for the Indians with just four games left they are still looking to maintain the top spot in the American League and at the same

CLEVELAND - The heat remains on for the Indians with just four games left they are still looking to maintain the top spot in the American League and at the same time hold off the Houston Astros.

Houston put on an offensive showcase on Wednesday with a 14-3 win over Texas, meaning that an Indians loss would tie them for the top mark in the American League.

The Tribe was determined not to let that happen.

Behind a couple different arms on the mound and taking advantage of mistakes by the Twins, the Indians pulled out a 4-2 win to improve to 99-59 on the season, still a game up on the Astros.

With one game left against the Twins in a noon start Thursday, here's our three takeaways from Wednesday's game as the team will look for their 100th win in their day game Thursday afternoon.

3. Great Start for Salazar

While the Indians haven't officially said anything about a 4th starter for the postseason, after Wednesday's outing it will be interesting to see if Danny Salazar is in the mix somehow in the postseason in terms of pitching as a starter, out of pen, or just watching.

He was great again on Wednesday on a pitch count, going 4.2 innings, allowing no runs on one hit with one walk and nine strikeouts. On the night he threw 64 pitches, 48 of which were strikes.

He also had 16 swinging strikes, and averaged 96.4 mph on his fastball, topping out at 97.5.

Another key was getting first pitch strikes, as in 16 batters, Salazar was able to get 11 first-pitch strikes, a very solid number.

It's going to be tough to think that how good for the most part Salazar has been that he won't have any impact on the postseason and will be doing nothing but sitting and watching as others take the mound.

2. Some Gifts from the Twins

The two-run win for the Indians was helped out in part thanks to two big mistakes from the Twins that wound up turning into runs.

The first came with the Indians up 1-0 and the bases loaded in the fourth. With Yan Gomes at the plate, Twins starter Adalberto Mejia plunked the Tribe catcher on the calf, allowing a run to score.

With the score still at 2-0 the Tribe got another gift in the 5th to extend the lead. With two outs and runners on second and third, Jay Bruce hit a routine grounder to third, and Eduardo Escobar made a bad throw, and the ball got away at first and Bruce was safe.

The play scored the third Indians Mario Coin of the night, and it was needed as the team eventually pulled out the 4-2 win.

1. The Final Four

The Indians with the win on Wednesday are still in a good position with looking to get the top spot in the AL for the entire postseason in the American League.

The Astros did win Wednesday, so with four games left they remain a game behind the Tribe record wise. The Astros though have to go to Boston this weekend for three, not an easy place to play.

The Indians likely need to win two of their final four and the Astros need to go undefeated in those four in order to overtake the Tribe.

Having the tie-breaker is a big deal for the Indians, as they won five of six this season against Houston. A win on Thursday in the noon game would put a ton of pressure on the Astros, and likely with the White Sox coming in for three would all but wrap up the AL for the Indians.

.@Indians are 38-3 at Home leading after 6 entering tonight:

If CLE wins, they'd need to go 2-2 last 4 G's for No.1 seed if HOU goes 3-1

— Jensen Lewis (@JLEWFifty) September 28, 2017