Cleveland Guardians vs Minnesota Twins Box Score on Aug 09, 2019

Jose Ramirez went 3-for-4, including an RBI double to highlight a five-run fifth inning, and Shane Bieber struck out 11 while picking up his 12th win of the season as the Cleveland Indians moved into a tie for first place in the American League Central with a 6-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night in Minneapolis.

Yasiel Puig went 3-for-5 with an RBI and run scored and Oscar Mercado and Greg Allen each had two hits for Cleveland, which won its fourth straight game. The Indians, who trailed Minnesota by 11 1/2 games on June 3, have won 41 of their past 57 games.

Bieber (12-4) allowed two runs on seven hits and two walks over seven innings. It marked the sixth start this season that Bieber registered double-digits for strikeouts in a game.

Jason Castro and Eddie Rosario homered and Jorge Polanco and Jake Cave each had two hits for Minnesota, which lost its fourth straight game for the first time this season. The two home runs gave the Twins a major league-leading 226 for the season, breaking the franchise single-season record of 225 set in 1963.

Devin Smeltzer (1-2), making his fourth major league start, gave up six runs on seven hits over 4 1/3 innings to pick up the loss. He walked three and struck out four.

Cleveland took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Ramirez walked, went to second on a balk and scored on a double by Franmil Reyes, snapping an 0-for-19 streak for Reyes.

The Indians parlayed five singles and a double into five runs in the fifth to extend the lead to 6-0. Allen opened the inning with a bunt single, went to second on a single by Mercado and then scored on a single by Carlos Santana. Puig followed with a single to right to make it 3-0, and Ramirez then lined a double off the bottom of the left field fence to make it 4-0. Roberto Perez then singled in Puig, the fifth consecutive hit for the Indians. Jason Kipnis drove in the final run with a sacrifice fly.

Castro hit his 12th home run leading off the bottom of the fifth to cut it to 6-1. Rosario smacked his 25th homer, a 409-foot drive into the second deck in right-center, leading off the sixth and breaking the team's single-season home run mark.

--Field Level Media