Oscar Mercado, Bobby Bradley and Franmil Reyes each homered as the Cleveland Indians cruised to a 12-3 victory over the host Minnesota Twins in the rubber game of their three-game series on Wednesday night.
Jose Ramirez went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored, Myles Straw and Reyes each had three hits, and Bradley added two hits and three RBIs for Cleveland (71-73) which finished with 14 hits.
Cal Quantrill (6-3) won his second consecutive start against the Twins allowing three runs (none earned) on two hits — both by Miguel Sano — over 6 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out four.
Sano homered and doubled and had three RBIs for Minnesota (64-83) which lost for the sixth time in its last eight games. Griffin Jax (3-4) suffered the loss allowing five runs (three earned) on seven hits over 4 2/3 innings while striking out three.
Cleveland took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Ramirez doubled high off the wall in right-center and scored one out later on Bradley’s line-drive double into the gap in left-center.
The Indians extended their lead to 5-0 in the fifth on Mercado’s fifth homer of the season, a three-run drive to left, and a sacrifice fly by Ramirez, driving in Straw who had doubled.
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Cleveland then broke the game open with a five-run seventh highlighted by Bradley’s 13th homer of the season, a two-run shot into the second deck in right, and RBI singles by Ramirez and Reyes.
The Twins cut it to 10-3 in the bottom of the seventh on Sano’s 28th homer of the season, a 420-foot three-run drive to left. The home run came after Max Kepler reached base on a walk that featured Bradley dropping a foul popup that would have been the third out of the inning.
The Indians made it 11-3 in the eighth when Bradley Zimmer grounded into a bases-loaded double play and Reyes finished the scoring with his 29th home run of the season, a 403-foot drive into the second deck in left leading off the ninth.
–Field Level Media