Cleveland Pulls Even with Minnesota in Wild AL Central Race

Carlos Santana with Cleveland
Carlos Santana with Cleveland in 2017. Photo by John Glaser/CSM/REX/Shutterstock

One of the weekend’s most anticipated series came to a close with a Cleveland Indians win that resulted in a deadlock at the top of the American League Central.

The Indians won a wild 7-3 game over the Twins on the strength of a 10th inning grand slam by Carlos Santana to push their record to 71-47, tying the Twins for the division lead with only 44 games left in the regular season.

Aaron Civale took the ball for the Indians opposite José Berríos of the Twins. Despite Cleveland’s pitcher’s unheralded status, in stark comparison to the Twins’ ace, he allowed only one run in 6 innings. Both starters departed after six innings, with Cleveland holding a 3-1 lead.

Minnesota was able to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning after Cleveland closer Brad Hand surrendered a pair of runs. In the tenth inning, however, the Indians took a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish after slugger Carlos Santana blasted a grand slam over the left-field wall.

The Indians, after trailing Minnesota by 11.5 games on June 2nd, are now even with their division rivals, setting up what should be a thrilling battle for division supremacy over the season’s final month and a half.

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