Cleveland Indians lose fifth straight as Twins hit five home runs

The Cleveland Indians streak was extended to five Saturday night as the Minnesota Twins hit five home runs in an 8-4 victory over the Tribe.

It was yet another rough night for the Cleveland Indians Saturday as they dropped their fifth straight game with an 8-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins.

The Twins used the long ball to take an early lead off Zach Plesac and the Indians as in the bottom of the second, Marwin Gonzalez hit a two-run home run and Willians Astudillo hit a solo shot to put Minnesota in front 3-0.

Cleveland found the scoreboard in the top of the fourth as Jose Ramirez smacked a solo home run off Rich Hill to cut the Twins lead to 2-1.Later in the inning, Cleveland cut the Minnesota lead to 3-2 as Oscar Mercado plated Carlos Santana with a sac-fly.

The Twins wouldn’t waste much time getting those two runs back as Byron Buxton hit a two-run home run off Plesac to push the Minnesota lead to 5-2.

Cleveland would get a run back in the top of the sixth as Jordan Luplow laced a run-scoring triple off Minnesota reliever Matt Wisler to cut the Twins lead to 5-3.

The Indians cut the lead back to one in the top of the eighth as Ramirez scored on a passed ball, but in the bottom half of the inning, the Twins extended it to four with a two-run Eddie Rosario home run and a solo shot from Miguel Sano making it a 8-4 Minnesota lead that they would not surrender.

With the loss, the Indians dipped to 26-20 on the season. They now trail the White Sox by 3.5 games for first place in the AL Central and trail Minnesota by two games for second place. They also now hold just a one-game lead over the New York Yankees for the seventh seed in the AL Playoffs.

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On Deck: The Indians will look to salvage the final game of their series in Minnesota by sending rookie Triston McKenzie to the mound. He’ll face off with Twins right-hander Michael Pineda in what will be the final regular season meeting between the two division rivals this season. First pitch from Target Field is scheduled for 2:10 p.m. EST.