MINNEAPOLIS – The surging Cleveland Indians completed another sweep of Minnesota and left the Twins barely clinging to their playoff hopes.

Victor Martinez had two hits and two RBIs to back a quality start from Fausto Carmona, and Cleveland beat Minnesota 6-2 for its second sweep of the Twins in the last 10 games.

Carmona (15-8) allowed two runs and eight hits in 7 1-3 innings to help the AL Central leaders to their 11th win in 12 games. Six of those victories have come against the Twins, who had won five in a row when they walked into Jacobs Field on Aug. 27 looking to cut into Cleveland’s 61/2-game lead in the division.

But the Twins were swept out of the Jake, split a series with Kansas City, and were swept again this week by the Tribe. Minnesota now trails the Indians by 121/2 games.

Cleveland began the day with a seven-game advantage over second-place Detroit. The Twins were eight games out of the wild-card spot.

Rafael Perez got five outs for his first major league save.

Scott Baker (8-7) gave up three runs and 11 hits with six strikeouts in five innings, a resounding step back from his stellar outing on Friday against the Royals.

Baker carried a perfect game into the ninth in that one, and was two outs from a no-hitter when Mike Sweeney broke it up.

On Wednesday, Grady Sizemore needed just two pitches to get the first hit off Baker, lining a single to center field to lead off the game. Baker then hit Asdrubal Cabrera in the back with a pitch and gave up an RBI double to Travis Hafner.

Martinez followed with another double to score two more runs, and it was 3-0 Indians before the smattering of Twins fans even got settled into their seats. It took Baker 27 pitches to get his first out of the game.

The right-hander from Louisiana walked a tightrope all afternoon, wobbling a few times but never being knocked off.

The Indians had a leadoff single in all five innings Baker worked. But he got some timely strikeouts, including one of Martinez with the bases loaded in the fourth, and stranded nine baserunners to limit the damage.

Carmona breezed through the first four innings against a Twins lineup he has dominated all season. He entered the game with a 1.14 ERA in three previous starts against the Twins.

The wiry Dominican needed just 54 pitches to get through the first four innings, but gave up two runs and four hits in the fifth to let the Twins back in the game.

Luis Rodriguez had a sacrifice fly and Torii Hunter added an RBI single to make the score 3-2, but Carmona got cleanup hitter Justin Morneau to ground out with runners on the corners to end the inning.

The Indians tacked on three more runs in the ninth, two coming on pinch-hitter Kenny Lofton’s single off Pat Neshek.

Notes: Twins RF Michael Cuddyer got his AL-leading 18th outfield assist in the fifth when he threw out Ryan Garko at the plate to end the inning. It was a questionable decision by Indians 3B coach Joel Skinner to send Garko from second on a single by Casey Blake against Cuddyer, who has one of the strongest arms in the league. … Twins C Mike Redmond had X-rays on his finger, which came back normal. He has a sprained ligament on his left middle knuckle and will be out at least a few days. Joe Mauer is still out with a bad hamstring, so Chris Heintz got the start.

AP-ES-09-05-07 1639EDT