Santana’s homers too much for Twins

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS

Carlos Santana hit two of Cleveland’s five home runs and Danny Salazar continued his strong second-half stretch in the Indians’ 8-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.

Santana, Jason Kipnis and Edwin Encarnacion all hit solo homers off Bartolo Colon (4-10) as Cleveland won its fifth straight overall and stayed unbeaten in eight games in Minnesota this season.

Austin Jackson added a three-run shot and Santana homered from both sides of the plate for the Indians, who have outscored the Twins 56-16 at Target Field this season.

Salazar (5-5) cruised through seven innings, surrendering one run and three hits. He struck out 10 while running his mark to 2-0 with a 1.39 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 321/3 innings in five starts since coming off the disabled list on July 22.

Colon gave up three runs and seven hits in five innings. The 44-year-old right-hander walked four for just the second time in four seasons.

Santana and Encarnacion have always enjoyed hitting in Minnesota’s unexpectedly power-friendly park. Santana has 18 homers this season overall and tied the most homers by a Twins’ opponent with 14 in 66 career games at Target Field.

Encarnacion hammered his 27th homer of the year to the back row in the second deck in left field for his third straight game with a homer. He has five in the past five games overall and 12 in his 31 games in Target Field.

Salazar finished a season-high seven innings for the third time in his past five starts. Byron Buxton’s RBI single in the second inning opened the scoring, but Salazar retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Indians: LHP Andrew Miller (right knee patella tendinitis) will make a one-inning rehab appearance in Triple-A on Wednesday and be activated on Friday before Cleveland begins a series in Kansas City. . OF Lonnie Chisenhall (right calf strain) played in a rehab game with Triple-A Columbus on Tuesday. He’s been out since July 11. Manager Terry Francona said the team wants Chisenhall to play both corner outfield spots before his return.

TUP NEXT

The Indians turn to RHP Carlos Carrasco (11-5, 3.83 ERA) today as the Twins counter with RHP Kyle Gibson (6-9, 6.02). Carrasco is coming off an eight-inning, two-hit victory against Tampa Bay in his last outing. He beat Minnesota in Cleveland earlier this season with one run allowed and four hits in 61/3 innings.