MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- The Indians, one way or the other, will still be playing baseball after Sunday.

They earned that right with a a 5-1 victory over the Twins on Saturday afternoon at Target Field. Scott Kazmir struck out 11 and allowed one run over six innings and Michael Bourn hit a two-run triple in his return to the lineup for the Tribe's ninth straight victory.

The win gave the Indians sole possession of the first wild-card spot following Tampa Bay's 7-2 loss to Toronto. If the Indians win Sunday, they will clinch the No. 1 wild card and play either Tampa Bay or Texas on Wednesday at Progressive Field.

Ubaldo Jimenez, the Tribe's top starter, is scheduled to face Twins lefty Scott Diamond in the 162nd game of the regular season.

"The biggest thing is we have to win Sunday," said DH Jason Giambi, who left Saturday's game with cramping in his left forearm. "We're not thinking about anything else. Let's just take care of that because I don't like how all the other scenarios work out."

Here's a look at those scenarios:

• If the Indians lose Sunday and Tampa and Texas win, the three contenders would be tied. In that case, the Indians would play Tampa Bay on Monday at Progressive Field at 4:07 p.m. in a tiebreaker game with the winner advancing to Wednesday's wild-card game. The loser would play Texas at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on Tuesday at 4:07 p.m. for the second spot.

The Indians put tickets on sale for Monday's potential tiebreaker game during Saturday's game.

• If the Indians and Tampa win Sunday and Texas loses, the Indians and Rays would play the wild-card game Wednesday at Progressive Field at 8:07 p.m. The Indians would hold home-field advantage because they finished the year with a better overall record.

• If the Indians lose and Rangers lose and Tampa Bay wins, the Indians and Tampa would play Wednesday at Tropicana Field at 8:07 p.m. The Rays hold home-field advantage because they won the season series against the Indians.

• If the Indians and Texas win and Tampa Bay loses, the Indians would host Texas Wednesday at 8:07 p.m. The Indians went 5-1 against the Rangers during the regular season to earn home-field advantage.

• If the Indians win on Sunday and Texas and Tampa either win or lose in tandem, the Rangers would host the Rays in a tiebreaker game Monday night at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington at 8:07 p.m. The winner would play the Indians on Wednesday at Progressive Field at 8:07 p.m.

• Box score | Scoreboard | Wild card standings

"Every time you win it makes the next day that much more important," said manager Terry Francona. "So we get to show up tomorrow and see if we can win a game. It's exciting, it's fun. We need to be one run better than the other team and we'll go from there."

Saturday's victory gave the Indians (91-70) a one-game lead over Tampa and Texas, who are tied at 90-71. The Rangers beat the Angels on Saturday.

Kazmir (10-9, 4.04) improved to 3-0 in five starts against the Twins this season. In his last two starts, Kazmir is 2-0 with 21 strikeouts, while allowing one run in 13 innings. He gives the Indians four starters with 10 or more victories for the first time since 2006.

Early Friday night, Scott Kazmir was trapped in an elevator for an hour and a half at the team hotel.

"It was nice being out on the mound with all that wide open space around me," said Kazmir.

Right-hander Cole De Vries, making just his second start of the season, took the loss despite retiring the first 11 batters. De Vries registered seven strikeouts in those 10 outs.

While the Indians were trying to figure out De Vries, Kazmir kept them in the game. He opened with three scoreless innings, striking out five in the process.

"I had command of my fastball and was able to attack the strike zone and expand it a little," said Kazmir. "I've been able to go out there, get the hitters in swing mode and once I do that I have quite a few pitches that I can go to."

After De Vries struck out the first two batters in the fourth, Jason Kipnis singled to center for the Tribe's first hit. Carlos Santana's homer to right, a line-drive shot that cleared the bleachers, made it 2-0. It was Santana's 20th homer of the season, two more than he hit last year.

"Carlos' swing was huge for us," said Francona. "Their pitcher sliced through us the first time through the order."

The Twins made it 2-1 in fourth on catcher Eric Fryer's two-out single. Ryan Doumit and Josh Willingham started the inning with singles, but Kazmir struck out the next two batters. Pedro Florimon's drive to the gap in left center looked like trouble, but Michael Brantley, after a tentative start, caught it for the third out.

The Indians stretched the lead to 5-1 with three two-out runs in the fifth. At least one of them was tainted.

De Vries started the inning with two outs, but Yan Gomes and Mike Aviles singled to put runners on first and second. Bourn, back in the lineup after missing three games with a sprained right wrist, tripled off the wall in right to score Gomes and Aviles.

"I felt good," said Bourn.

Fryer appeared to tag Aviles before he reached the plate with his slide, but umpire Larry Vanover called him safe. Replays showed that Aviles may have missed the plate altogether.

Nick Swisher kept the inning going with a walk and Kipnis sent a single into right field to score Bourn. It was Kipnis' 24th RBI against the Twins this season or 29 percent of his total RBI.

De Vries (0-2, 10.88) did not come out for the sixth. He allowed five runs on six hits in five innings. He struck out seven and walked one in 91 pitches.

The Twins have lost five straight, nine of their last 10 and 16 of their last 21. The Indians, meanwhile, improved to 20-6 in September.

The start of the game was delayed 2 hours and 26 minutes by rain.