Cleveland, OH – Carlos Santana homered and knocked in two runs, Corey Kluber tossed 5 1/3 solid innings and the Cleveland Indians handled the Houston Astros, 9-2, to complete a four-game sweep.
Michael Brantley, Mike Aviles and Michael Bourn each added two RBI for the Indians, who remained a half-game behind Tampa Bay for the first wild card spot in the AL.
Kluber (10-5) allowed two runs on six hits while striking out six.
Sunday's win sealed Cleveland's sixth four-game sweep of the season. The only other Indians team to accomplish that feat was the 1954 club, which made it to the World Series. They became the first team since the 1961 New York Yankees, went on to win the World Series that season, to sweep six series of four games.
"We're in a fun spot," Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. "We have to keep winning. It's a fun way to come to the ballpark."
Chris Carter hit a solo homer for the Astros, who have lost nine in a row. Erik Bedard (4-12) gave up six runs on eight hits while striking out eight over five-plus innings.
"We're going to fight all the way until the end," Houston manager Bo Porter said. "The number of losses and whether it's consecutive losses, that's not going to prevent this group or us as a staff coming in here every day and putting up our best fight."
Carter's homer in the second gave Houston an early lead, and the Astros tacked on another run in the fourth. Marc Krauss doubled to left-center field, Carter walked and Matt Dominguez singled to load the bases with no outs, and Trevor Crowe grounded into a double play to plate Krauss.
Cleveland responded with three runs in the bottom half. Jason Kipnis led off with a single and raced home on Santana's double to right-center field for the first run. Asdrubal Cabrera later walked with one out, and after Yan Gomes struck out, Brantley and Aviles hit consecutive RBI singles.
The Indians pulled away with a four-run sixth. Cabrera singled and Gomes was hit by a pitch to start the inning, then Brantley hit an RBI single to center. Philip Humber came in from the bullpen and gave up a two-run triple to Bourn, with Nick Swisher's sacrifice fly making it a 7-2 game.
Aviles' RBI single in the seventh and Santana's solo homer in the eighth accounted for the final margin.
Game Notes
The Indians went 6-1 against the Astros this season ... Cleveland, which had 13 hits, is 1 1/2 games ahead of Texas for the second wild card spot after the Rangers lost to Kansas City Sunday ... Kipnis and Brantley each had three hits.
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