NEU » I dont feel like I struggled," Shields said. "

MINNEAPOLIS -- When Danny Salazar departed the mound early, Mike Napoli flexed his muscle and Clevelands bullpen followed with a stifling performance.Thats the way a first-place team maintains a division lead down the September stretch.Napoli hit a mammoth home run on the first pitch of the fifth inning to put the Indians in front, and five relievers allowed only one hit over five scoreless innings in a 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night to stay six games ahead of Detroit in the AL Central.It has to take all of us to do it. Im in a position where I can, at any time, change a game, and I know that. Im not going up there just trying to hit singles, Napoli said. But it starts with the guys ... to get us to that point.The Indians won for the ninth time in their last 11 games, despite the removal of Salazar after four innings due to tightness in his right forearm as a precaution. Salazar was on the disabled list for elbow inflammation a month ago, but manager Terry Francona said this issue was muscular and not structural.Well see how he feels and then well go from there, Francona said.Napolis drive off Tyler Duffey (8-11) landed in the third deck above left field three sections over from the foul pole.He was obviously sitting on it, Duffey said.The homer, Napolis 32nd, was estimated by the Twins at 456 feet.I cant even hit a golf ball that far, Francona said.That followed Byron Buxtons two-out, two-run homer that tied the game against Salazar in the fourth and glanced off the back wall of the Twins bullpen in left-center. The 22-year-old Buxton has five of his eight career home runs in the eight games since his recall from Triple-A on Sept. 1.Joe Mauer also went deep and Brian Dozier added an RBI double, but the Twins lost for the 23rd time in their last 29 games.The Indians scored four runs in the third inning against Duffey, whose low throw to second base on a comebacker by Francisco Lindor not only cost him a potential double play but contributed in a major way to the rally. Lonnie Chisenhall added a two-run double, and Tyler Naquin tacked on an RBI single.Salazar has not won in seven starts since July 19. One of the four runs the right-hander allowed was unearned due to a fielding error by second baseman Jason Kipnis on the speedy Buxtons bouncer, but his ERA after the All-Star break is still 7.44.Joe Colon (1-1) completed the fifth inning for the victory and Cody Allen finished the ninth for his 27th save in 30 attempts, as the Indians started their final stretch of 23 games, all intra-division affairs. Theyre only 9-8 against the Twins, who are on track for 100-plus losses.PERSONAL RECORDSNapoli already has a career high in home runs, and his latest long ball pushed his RBI total to 93, surpassing his previous career high set in 2013 with Boston. Napoli has three homers in the last five games.I feel a lot more comfortable, he said. I was going through periods where I was just trying to grind out at-bats until I could find it.FIELDING FLUBSThe Twins lead the league with 110 errors, already their highest season total in five years and on pace for their most since 1980. They made three highlight-reel plays, diving stops of grounders by Mauer at first and Miguel Sano at third and a sliding catch by Max Kepler in right, but the mistake by Duffey made a bigger impact.The errors are concerning, manager Paul Molitor said.TRAINERS ROOMIndians: Roberto Perez, sharing the catcher role with Chris Gimenez while Yan Gomes (separated shoulder) is working his way back on a rehab assignment, struck out a season-high three times.Twins: RHP Trevor May (back strain) and LHP Tommy Milone (biceps tendinitis) were reinstated from the DL before the game.UP NEXTThe Indians will send rookie RHP Mike Clevinger (2-2, 5.30 ERA) to the mound for the middle game of the series. His seventh major league start will come against LHP Hector Santiago (11-8, 4.91 ERA), who in his last turn recorded off his first victory for the Twins in six starts since arriving by trade. 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And back on Detroits heels. Asdrubal Cabrera hit a two-run double to cap Clevelands comeback in the sixth inning, and the Indians charged into the All-Star break with a 6-4 win over Kansas City on Sunday and three-game sweep of the Royals. Cabreras double off Tim Collins (2-5) led the roller-coasting Indians to their fourth straight win. At 51-44, they stayed 1 1-2 games behind the first-place Tigers in the AL Central. Last week, Detroit took three of four from Cleveland to widen its lead in the division. It seemed the Tigers were poised to run away and hide. But with their fans fearing a collapse like last year, the Indians pulled together. "We got the city of Cleveland to step back off the ledge after the Detroit series," said All-Star second baseman Jason Kipnis. "So thats good. We wanted to push ourselves. To be able to sweep them and get a couple days off now, thats a great way to end it." Cleveland has its most wins at the All-Star break since 2007 -- the last time the Indians made the playoffs. Reliever Rich Hill (1-1) got two outs in the sixth, and closer Chris Perez -- Clevelands fifth reliever -- worked the ninth for his 13th save as the Indians improved to 43-1 when leading after eight. Billy Butler had three hits for the Royals (43-49), who dropped their fifth straight. Kansas City is third in the AL Central, eight games back. "Weve had a rough five games," manager Ned Yost said. "They can go take a break, regroup and hopefully come back and play more consistent baseball." The Indians have had their issues with inconsistency, as well, but they have been resilient all season. The series finale was no different as Cleveland trailed 4-3 in the sixth before rallying against Kansas Citys usually reliable bullpen. Collins, who took the loss in Fridays series opener, walked Lonnie Chisenhall leading off. Drew Stubbs singled, Michael Bourn sacrificed, and Cabrera, whose name has surfaced in trade rumours, drove a 1-0 pitch into the gap in right-centre to put Cleveland back in front. Kipnis followed with an RBI single off Everett Teaford to give the Indians a 6-4 lead. "I was real proud of our guys," manager Terry Francona said. "We kept battling, and because of it we go into the break with a nice win." Bryan Shaw and Joe Smith combined for two scoreless innings before Perez, who spent time on the disabled list and was charged with drug possession in the first half, gave up a one-out double in the ninth but struck out Butler and retired All-Star catcher Salvador Perez on a grounder for the final out. The Indians have overcome their share of injuries, inconsistent pitching and a 4-16 stretch which put them 5 1-2 ggames back of the Tigers on June 17.dddddddddddd After dropping three of four to Detroit, Cleveland finished the first half by going 5-1. "Its been a great first half for us," Indians first baseman Nick Swisher said. "Weve dealt with a lot of injuries and to be standing where we are right now, weve got to feel great about that." Royals starter James Shields ended up with his seventh no-decision in his last nine starts. The right-hander allowed three runs and seven hits in five innings, leaving with a 4-3 lead. Shields has received sparse run support as the Royals have scored just nine total runs in his six losses. Shields, though, was more focused on getting his team turned around than his record. "You never want to lose five in a row, but Im not too worried about it," Shields said. "Weve done a good job of grinding this first half. It definitely could be a lot worse and it definitely could be a lot better. Right now we need to kick it in gear and string together some wins." Indians starter Ubaldo Jimenez didnt get through the fifth inning, his shortest start since June 7. After the Indians took a 3-2 lead in the third, Jimenez let the Royals grab it back in the fourth on Johnny Giavotellas RBI groundout and Alcides Escobars run-scoring single. Jimenez walked the leadoff hitter in the fifth and was quickly pulled by Francona before things got worse. Reliever C.C. Lee made his major league debut and retired the Royals on three straight popups to keep the Indians within one. Shields worked around a two-on, none-out jam in the second, but hurt himself with a one-out walk in the third when the Indians scored twice to take a 3-2 lead. Kipnis walked with one down and moved up on a groundout. Michael Brantley, who came in batting .382 with runners in scoring position, hit an RBI single to tie it 2-all. Santana then doubled inside the bag at first, and third-base coach Brad Mills never hesitated in waving Brantley home. "I dont feel like I struggled," Shields said. "I threw some really good pitches. I think I threw three changeups that probably would have hit the dirt, and they got base hits on them. They probably had about 20 foul-offs. Thats a good team over there. They work really good at-bats." NOTES: Clevelands pitchers havent given up a home run in 60 innings. ... Last year, the Indians were 44-41 at the All-Star break and three games out of first place. They collapsed in August, going 5-24. ... Francona will spend a few off days in Las Vegas. "Im going to see how much money I can lose," he cracked. "Im going to lay low." ... Kansas City will be represented in New York by Alex Gordon, Perez and closer Greg Holland, the first time the Royals have had three All-Stars since 1988. Perez is the first KC catcher on the team since Darrell Porter in 1980. ' ' '