Cleveland Indians: 3 takeaways from the 6-2 win in Minnesota

The Cleveland Indians were able to overcome the pesky Minnesota Twins in a game that saw Trevor Bauer continue to build his Cy Young case.

Tuesday night’s 6-2 victory was all about the stars stepping up for the Cleveland Indians.

Entering the season it seemed like Francisco Lindor and Corey Kluber were the dynamic batter and pitcher duo. But now Jose Ramirez and Trevor Bauer are the duo that strikes fear into opposing teams.

Ramirez and Bauer led the way for the Indians in the victory, while Edwin Encarnacion, Brad Hand and Cody Allen also had notable contributions against a Twins team without Brian Dozier.

And now, some takeaways:

Bauer keeps getting better

Trevor Bauer is a legitimate favorite to win the American League Cy Young Award. He went 6.1 innings in the win, allowing just two earned runs. His ERA is now down to 2.34, which puts him fourth in the AL.

Chris Sale leads the way at 2.04 but he was just put on the disabled list. Perhaps missing a few starts will hurt his case if Bauer continues to be lights out.

Bauer is second in strikeouts right behind Sale but leads the league in innings pitched. A fool would cite that Bauer only has 10 wins but no one should be looking at that column on the stats page to determine a Cy Young winner.

Jose being Jose

Another casual night for Jose Ramirez in which he gets three hits and drives in two runs. No big deal.

Jose, who is tied for the AL lead in home runs with 32, already has five hits in this Minnesota series after breaking out of his slump. His OBP remains over .400 and he has driven in at least one run in each of the past three games.

While Bauer competes for a Cy Young, Ramirez continues to make his case for AL MVP. As for one of the most notable stats, Ramirez has only struck out 51 times this season compared to drawing 70 walks. J.D. Martinez, who is tied for the league lead in home runs, has already struck out 107 times.

Finally beating the Twins

For all the talk of how weak the AL Central is, the Twins have owned the Indians in 2018. This win pushes the Indians’ record to 4-7 against the Twins in 2018. If only the Twins could beat up on the rest of the division like the Indians do.

Today’s game is on Facebook, which I think is dumb, so be sure to share your thoughts on that in the comments as you watch on your phone or computer.