CLEVELAND _ It was fitting that on the night the Indians honored Jim Thome as a member of the 2016 class inducted into the franchise Hall of Fame, the 2016 edition of the Indians powered their way to a 6-3 win against the Oakland A's.
The Indians (59-42) hit four home runs Saturday night, enough to slug their way to a second straight win. While none were as prodigious as Thome's 511-foot home run in 1999, they were enough to down the A's (47-57) and maintain the best record in the American League.
Already trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the first, Jason Kipnis slugged a solo home run down the right-field line off A's starter Dillon Overton, his 17th of the season, which already ties his career high in a season.
An inning later, Jose Ramirez led off with his fifth home run of the season, giving the Indians a 2-1 lead.
In the fourth, two more. Abraham Almonte slugged his first home run of the season, a 442-foot shot, per Statcast, three-fourths of the way up the bleachers in left field. Kipnis then added an RBI double high off the wall in center field to score Rajai Davis, who had singled. Later in the inning, Mike Napoli added a two-run homer to center field, his team-leading 23rd of the season, to put the Indians ahead 6-2.
Indians starting pitcher Josh Tomlin tossed a solid outing, allowing two runs on six hits and striking out seven in seven innings pitched. For the second straight night, Bryan Shaw worked a scoreless eighth inning and Cody Allen worked the ninth, allowing a home run to Marcus Semien but closing the door.
The fourth inning included some tension. Midway through his at-bat, Billy Butler became upset, possibly with Tomlin's quick pace on the mound. He then exchanged words with catcher Chris Gimenez, causing a short delay. On the next pitch, Butler crushed a solo home run to the bleachers in left field.
As he hit it, Butler yelled and flipped his bat, halfway turning toward Gimenez. Gimenez responded by walking out to the mound as Butler rounded the bases. Once Butler crossed home, home plate umpire Tripp Gibson issued warnings to both benches.
That home run tied it, 2-2, but came just before the Indians' four-run, multi-home run fourth inning.
