CLEVELAND _ Francisco Lindor missed the first series between the Indians and Minnesota Twins this season after he opened the season on the injured list. On Tuesday night, he made up for lost time.
In a key game to kick off a crucial series for the Indians, Lindor came through with one of his best offensive nights in recent memory to help Shane Bieber lift the Tribe to a 5-2 win over the Twins on Tuesday night at Progressive Field.
The Indians (30-30) entered the night 11.5 games back of the Twins (40-19) and needing to put together a strong series to help close the gap in the race for the American League Central crown.
The Twins took an early 1-0 lead, but Lindor _ along with some additional muscle from the Indians' lineup _ overtook the current division leaders.
Facing Twins starter Devin Smeltzer, Lindor in the third inning lined a solo home run to the bleacher seats in left field to tie it at 1. The next pitch Lindor saw from Smeltzer came two innings later, and a similar result followed. Smeltzer started Lindor's fifth-inning at-bat with a changeup that caught too much of the plate, and Lindor again crushed a home run to left-center, this one a two-run shot after Leonys Martin had walked.
The Twins cut the lead in half in the sixth via Eddie Rosario's home run off Bieber. In the bottom of the seventh, the Indians went back-to-back to push their lead to 5-2. Roberto Perez first crushed a 439-foot home run to center field before Jake Bauers lined the next pitch just over the right-field wall.
Byron Buxton reached base via an error on Lindor to start the eighth inning, which ended Bieber's night. He walked off to a standing ovation from the Progressive Field crowd, having just delivered a strong outing at a time in which the Indians badly needed it. Bieber (5-2) finished with two earned runs on five hits to go with one walk and seven strikeouts in seven innings pitched.
The Indians turned to Oliver Perez out of the bullpen. He went on to strike out all three hitters he faced, including Nelson Cruz on a high fastball to end the inning. In the ninth, Brad Hand recorded his 17th save.
