Twins' division lead is gone as Cleveland pulls even with 6-2 victory

Eddie Rosario launched a majestic home run to right in the sixth inning, putting the 2019 Twins in the record books for hitting the most home runs in club history. That answered one question Friday: Just how soon would the BombaSquad hit its 226th homer of the season?

Other questions went unanswered. Like when will they beat the Indians — or anyone — again? And when will a starter pitch longer than six innings and give up fewer than five runs?

Shane Bieber pitched like the All-Star Game MVP he was. Cleveland hitters poked, prodded then battered rookie lefthander Devin Smeltzer, knocking him from the game in the fifth.

The Indians looked like a first-place team on Friday. And that's because they are after beating the Twins 6-2.

For the first time since April 26, Cleveland is in a first-place tie with the Twins. The Twins led by 11½ games on June 3 but are 30-28 since then while Cleveland has sizzled, going 41-16.

"I think they have been playing extremely well," Twins first baseman C.J. Cron said. "We haven't been playing up to our standard, that's for sure. We just need to get back to the basics. We need to start hitting the ball hard. We need to start throwing the ball better. That's everybody in here."

Right now, it doesn't look like they have much to offer. They have lost four in a row for the first time this season and have lost three in a row to the Indians.

Smeltzer avoided trouble over the next two innings, but Cleveland was hitting some loud outs and got to Smeltzer in the fifth.

Oscar Mercado's RBI single made it 2-0, the first of four consecutive hits by the Indians. Jose Ramirez's run-scoring double ended Smeltzer's night. Tyler Duffey entered but gave up an RBI single to Roberto Perez and a sacrifice fly to Jason Kipnis as Cleveland scored five runs in the inning to take a 6-0 lead.

In the past four games, the Twins fell behind 11-0, 7-0, 4-0 and 6-0. Twins starters over that stretch have a 11.51 ERA on 31 hits and 15 walks over 20⅓ innings.

"You don't want to make any assumptions or judgments based on four games," manager Rocco Baldelli said. "Do we want to play better? Of course we want to play better. But, I have no doubt we're going to play better. We're going to turn this little spurt around. Our pitchers are going to throw the ball better and we're going to be fine."

The offense, again, was tasked to rally. But Bieber was at his best, holding the Twins to two runs, seven hits and one walk over seven innings, with 11 strikeouts. Jason Castro homered in the fifth for the Twins' first run, followed by Rosario's record-breaking shot in the sixth.

And now there is no gap in the AL Central.

"[Max] Kepler might lead off the game tomorrow with a home run and all of a sudden we're right back to hitting how we do," Cron said. "It's going to be something like that but, like I said we are super confident in our abilities. We're confident we can pitch. We're confident we can hit. Hopefully we can get back on track."