CLEVELAND -- Cleveland Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez just keeps hitting home runs and putting his team in position to win games.
Ramirez drew into a first-place tie with Boston Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez when he belted his 37th home run of the season, a first-inning blast that gave the Indians all the momentum they needed to top the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1, at Progressive Field Friday night.
With the victory over the Orioles (36-86), the Indians (70-51) pushed their lead over the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central Division to 12.5 games, and it could be up to 13 by the end of the night if the Detroit Tigers hold on for a win over the Twins at Target Field in Minneapolis.
Including the series-opening victory over the Orioles, the Indians have won six straight games.
Before Ramirez got the scoring started, left fielder Michael Brantley earned a walk on just six pitches, as he took three four-seam fastballs and one curveball out of the strikeout from Orioles right-handed starter David Hess.
Ramirez saw a steady diet of four-seam fastballs from Hess before the fourth pitch of the at-bat was a curveball out of the zone. Then, Hess went back to the fastball, and Ramirez timed up the pitch enough to get the barrel of the bat on it and blast the offering over the first section of seats next to The Corner Bar in right field.
In order to make an early lead stand up for eight innings, the Indians needed a strong pitching performance from starter Carlos Carrasco, and that is exactly what they got from the veteran right-hander.
Carrasco scattered three hits and one walk over seven innings of work against the Orioles. Additionally, on the way to his 15th win of the season, Carrasco struck out six Orioles hitters and lowered his 2018 regular-season earned run average to 3.33.
Carrasco set down the Orioles in order in the top of the first, third, fifth, sixth and seventh innings, striking out two hitters each in the first and third frames, but it was not all smooth sailing, as he had to work out of trouble in both the second and fourth innings.
With runners on first and second and two outs after an error charged to Ramirez, Carrasco got right fielder Joey Rickard to line a 3-1 pitch to Brantley in left for the final out of the second inning.
Then, in the fourth, Carrasco buckled down with the bases loaded after giving up two hits around a walk, and got Rickard to chase an 84-mile-per-hour curveball low in the strike zone for strike three and the final out of the inning.
PHOTOS: Cleveland Indians face Baltimore Orioles at Progressive Field
With the win, Carrasco moved into a first-place tie with reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber for the most wins on the team this season.
The Indians will look to keep the good times rolling against the Orioles on Saturday afternoon, when they honor their latest inductee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, former first baseman Jim Thome, at Progressive Field.
