MINNEAPOLIS _ Edwin Encarnacion drove in every run for Cleveland on Sunday as the Indians held off the Twins 5-2 to complete a four-game sweep of the weekend series.
Right-hander Trevor Bauer held the Twins to four hits over seven-plus innings to improve to 6-5 on the season. The Twins scored just seven runs in the four games.
Cleveland came to town a team looking to get on a roll, and the Indians did just that by dominating their AL Central rivals. The pitching staff, again, was unable to keep the Indians off bases, and the offense sputtered all weekend.
After spending 49 days in first place, the Twins will wake up Monday in second place for the second straight day. And their faults could lead to a further descent down the division standings.
The Indians made solid contact and hit for power. They kept the Twins bats quiet and made sparkling play after sparkling play. By outclassing the Twins all weekend, they looked like the team that played in the World Series last season.
The Twins have Monday's scheduled off day to recover before opening a three-game series against the White Sox on Tuesday.
Twins right-hander Kyle Gibson was not terrible on Sunday but had his moments when he got too much of the plate. Two of those moments occurred with Encarnacion at the plate.
Gibson threw an 94 miles per hour fastball down the middle of the plate in the fourth inning, and Encarnacion bashed it an estimated 443 feet to left for the first run of the game. After a leadoff walk in the sixth, Gibson flipped a breaking ball over the middle of the plate to Encarnacion, who hit high drive that floated into the second deck in left for a 3-0 Cleveland lead.
That was all that Gibson yielded on Sunday. Cleveland added a run off Tyler Duffey in the seventh _ on an RBI single by Encarnacion.
That was plenty for Cleveland, since the Twins offense was nonexistent for most of the weekend.
The Twins scored twice in the second on an RBI double by Eduardo Escobar then an RBI single by Eddie Rosario. Their big chance came in the eighth.
Pinch hitter Robbie Grossman walked. Brian Dozier, not in the starting lineup for the first time in over a month, grabbed a bat but flew out to right. Jorge Polanco popped put to short.
But Joe Mauer drew a two-out walk to put two men on for Miguel Sano. As the announced crowd of 35,039 looked on, Sano flew out to right to end the inning.
The Indians added a run in the ninth on Encarnacion's sacrifice fly.
