Ramirez powers Tribe

Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, MO.

Jose Ramirez homered for the second consecutive game, a three-run shot that sent rookie Zach Plesac and the Cleveland Indians past the Kansas City Royals 8-3 on Friday night.

Francisco Lindor had three hits, including an RBI triple, as the Indians stayed two games behind first-place Minnesota in the AL Central. Cleveland has won three straight and nine of 11, improving to 16-4 in July.

Ramirez’s drive in the sixth inning made it 5-1. The switch-hitting slugger, busting out of a season-long slump lately, launched a tiebreaking homer in the 14th inning of Cleveland’s 5-4 win over the Royals on Thursday night.

He has seven home runs and 21 RBIs this month, and the Indians are 30-3 when Ramirez drives in a run.

Tyler Naquin also had three hits and an RBI.

Plesac (5-3) gave up just an unearned run and six hits in seven strong innings. He made a great defensive play in the sixth when he went into a headlong dive to snare a foul popup near the Kansas City dugout.

Jakob Junis (6-9) gave up six runs and 10 hits in six-plus innings after coming off the paternity list.

The Indians threatened in the first two innings before finally getting to Junis in the third. Naquin hit a one-out single before Lindor ripped a triple down the right field line. Jorge Soler had trouble picking it up in the corner, allowing Lindor to get to third easily. He scored on Mike Freeman’s two-out single.

Center fielder Bubba Starling ran down Jason Kipnis’ drive at the wall, saving another run.

The Royals closed within one in the fifth with an unearned run. Whit Merrifield reached on a throwing error by Freeman at third base, moved to third on a single by Alex Gordon and scored on a single by Hunter Dozier.

The Indians got another run in the seventh. Junis gave up hits to Naquin and Lindor before being removed. Freeman sent a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Naquin.

Kansas City avoided more damage when Starling threw out Lindor trying to score on a flyout.

The Indians tacked on runs in the eighth and ninth. The Royals got two in the ninth.

Starling extended his hitting streak to 10 games in his 11th major league game.

Twins 6, White Sox 2

CHICAGO

Nelson Cruz homered for the seventh time in his last five games, and the slugging Minnesota Twins became the fastest team to reach 200 homers in major league history.

Max Kepler hit a three-run drive in the second inning for the landmark homer in Minnesota’s 103rd game of the season. The previous mark was 122 games by the Texas Rangers in 2005.

The AL Central-leading Twins hit five homers in the series opener to become the first team in major league history with nine five-homer games in a season.

Cruz finished with three hits and two RBIs, including a solo drive in the seventh for his 26th homer. He went deep three times Thursday night.

Minnesota right-hander Michael Pineda (7-5) allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings. He has a 2.87 ERA in his last eight starts.

Adam Engel homered for the slumping White Sox, who have dropped four straight and 12 of 15.

Chicago starter Dylan Cease (1-3) permitted five runs and seven hits in five innings in his third straight loss since winning his major league debut July 3. He struck out four and walked three.

Cease, the team’s top pitching prospect, yielded each of his runs in the second inning. In his previous outing Sunday at Tampa Bay, he gave up all four of his runs in the second as well.