Tribe's bats find spark in 10-run seventh

CLEVELAND — José Ramírez was the lone hot hitter in the Tribe’s lineup to start the year, batting .429 with a 1.244 OPS in his first eight games. But when the rest of the team failed to match his offensive output, he fell into an 0-for-15 skid. Now that he’s

CLEVELAND — José Ramírez was the lone hot hitter in the Tribe’s lineup to start the year, batting .429 with a 1.244 OPS in his first eight games. But when the rest of the team failed to match his offensive output, he fell into an 0-for-15 skid. Now that he’s catching his second wind, the Indians’ bats started to follow his lead.

Ramírez’s solo homer and RBI triple set the tone early in Cleveland’s 13-0 victory over Cincinnati at Progressive Field, and he later tacked on another long ball as part of the Tribe’s 10-run seventh inning. The Indians’ third consecutive win assured that the Ohio Cup would remain in Northeast Ohio. Since the start of 2015, they have taken 21 of 28 games against the Reds.

• Box score

Cleveland’s offense has been desperately waiting to have a breakout night, after sporting the lowest collective batting average in the Majors (.181) entering Thursday night. It was just the second time the Indians have eclipsed 10 hits in a game this year and their 13 runs were more than they had scored in their last eight games combined (12). Those 12 runs were scored over their previous 76 innings, while they plated 10 in just the seventh inning alone. It was the Indians’ first 10-run inning since Sept. 28, 2018, at Kansas City.