The Twins are 21 games behind the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central standings. On Friday, the distance separating them was no more than a few inches.

Mike Napoli had three hits, including his 19th home run, Carlos Carrasco pitched into the seventh inning and the Indians beat Minnesota 5-2 on Friday night.

Twins starter Ervin Santana (3-8) was coming off a shutout in his last start. But the Indians chased him with three straight singles in the sixth inning, when they took a 4-2 lead.

With one out in a tie game, Santana gave up consecutive singles to Francisco Lindor and Napoli to put runners at first and second. Then Jose Ramirez hit a line drive up the middle that kicked off the heel of Santana’s glove hand and skittered into center field. The RBI single put Cleveland ahead 3-2 and ended Santana’s night.

“If it finds the glove instead of the wrist, you might get a double play and get off the field,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “But it made its way to center field.”

Napoli scored three runs, one on his solo shot into the bullpen in left-center in the eighth inning that stretched Cleveland’s lead to three runs.

Carrasco (6-3) allowed two runs on four hits while striking out three in 6 2/3 innings. He won for the fourth time in his last five starts. Cody Allen pitched a perfect ninth for his 19th save in 21 chances.

Brian Dozier drove in both of the Twins’ runs. He had a sacrifice fly in the first inning and a home run off an inside fastball in the fourth.

“It’s the only one I saw,” Dozier said of the fastball from Carrasco. “He made some mistakes and I got that one. He made some more and we didn’t execute on those times.”

The Twins had beaten Cleveland four out of six games this season, making them the only team in the AL Central with a winning record against the Indians. But their bats were quiet on Friday as the season’s second half got underway.

“We just didn’t have enough offense,” Molitor said. “Four hits usually is not going to get you many wins.”

 

Don’t run on Buxton

Napoli led off the second inning with a drive to deep left-center field that looked like a sure extra-base hit. But Twins center fielder Byron Buxton played the ball on the first hop off the fence, spun and fired a strike to second baseman Dozier, who slapped the tag on a sliding Napoli.

 

Trainer’s room

Indians: Brantley continued his rehab assignment, moving up to Double-A Akron for Friday night’s game. Francona said he expected Brantley to play six or seven innings and that he was close to being able to play in back-to-back games.

Twins: Buxton (knee) returned to the lineup after missing most of the last three games before the break. He had not played since slamming his leg into the center field fence trying to make a catch in the first inning of the Twins’ July 8 game against the Rangers.

 

Up next

Indians: RHP Trevor Bauer (7-3) had won three consecutive starts before his last outing, a 5-4 loss to the Yankees on July 7. He gave up a season-high five earned runs in 5 2/3 innings. That raised his ERA from 3.02 to 3.30, which was still good for ninth-best in the AL at the break.

Twins: Minnesota has scored 48 runs in the last four games started by RHP Tyler Duffey (5-6). The Twins have won all four, and Duffey has earned the victory in the last three.

In his most recent outing on July 7 at Texas, Duffey threw six scoreless innings and struck out a season-high nine batters.