MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- It was the best of both worlds for the Indians on Friday night at Target Field.

They scored early and often, which gave manager Terry Francona a chance to test some arms in his re-aligned bullpen while rolling to a 12-6 victory over the Twins. The Indians' eighth straight win combined with Tampa Bay's 6-3 loss to Toronto moved them into a tie for the first wild card spot.

Texas stayed a game behind the Rays and Indians with a victory over the Angels on Friday. The Indians could clinch a wild card spot with a victory over the Twins on Saturday and a Texas loss. A victory would also guarantee them the right to play at least one tiebreaker game on Monday.

Should the Indians and Rays tie for the best record in the wild card race, the wild card game would be played Wednesday at Tropicana Field because the Rays won the season series against the Indians. Francona, with an eye toward the two games the Indians have left to play, was not overwhelmed by moving into a tie with Tampa Bay.

"Whatever. . .I just want to keep playing," he said. "I don't want to go home. I just want to keep playing, I don't care when we play or where we play. I just want to keep playing."

Friday's victory was the Tribe's 90th, a 22-game improvement over last year. It's the first time the Indians have won 90 games since 2007.

Francona once again was more interested in victories yet to be earned than the ones already in the win column.

"We have to show up in about 10 hours and and try to get 91," he said. "I'm thrilled we're playing for what we're playing for, but there are a lot of different faces on this team. Chris Antonetti did a very good job putting this team together."

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Still, he was not above following the Rays and Rangers on the scoreboard.

"You ever try to manage three games at once?" said Francona. "It's not easy."

The win went to Corey Kluber (11-5, 3.84), but the story of the night was the offense, which produced 17 hits. Jason Kipnis and Asdrubal Cabrera led the way with three hits each. Kipnis, Ryan Raburn, Mike Aviles and Drew Stubbs drove in two runs each.

The Indians ended things in a hurry. They scored four runs on five hits in the first off lefty Pedro Hernandez. Four of the hits went for extra bases.

Nick Swisher started the chain moving with a one-out double. Kipnis delivered him with a triple to the wall in right center. Carlos Santana delivered Kipnis with a double to center.

Picking up a theme here?

After Raburn struck out, Cabrera doubled home Santana for a 3-0 lead. Yan Gomes singled to right to make it 4-0.

"We're starting to swing the bats at the right time," said Stubbs, "and we're getting good enough pitching. We're doing what we need to do. We're beating the teams that we need to beat and are competing with the tough teams."

Hernandez, a rookie lefty, beat the Indians with a five-and-fly on June 23. He didn't go five Friday night and he certainly didn't fly anywhere but to the dugout as the Indians improved to 35-20 against left-handed starters this season.

The Indians made it 7-0 in the second as Hernandez continued to struggle.

Stubbs opened the inning with a walk and went to third on Michael Brantley's single. The hit extended Brantley's hitting streak to 11 games.

Stubbs scored when Swisher hit into a 5-4-3 double play. When Kipnis, who entered the game hitting .403 (25-for-62) against the Twins this season, singled, Hernandez was done. Shairon Martis relieved and the Tribe kept hitting.

Santana moved Kipnis to third with his second straight double. Raburn followed with a two-run single to center. The single gave Raburn 55 RBI in 235 at-bats.

"Those first two innings were fun to watch," said Francona.

Kluber, working with the big lead, opened with three scoreless innings. He struck out two and allowed two hits.

The Twins made it 7-1 in the fourth on Trevor Plouffe's two-out single.

The Indians answered in the fifth to make it a 9-1 game. Aviles blooped a two-out, two-run single into right field. Santana, reaching bases for a third straight time, started the inning with a walk against Liam Hendricks.

Cabrera sent him to third with his second double of the night and 35th of the season. Hendricks struck out Gomes, but Aviles burned him with his bloop to right.

Kluber didn't look like the same pitcher after giving up a run in the fourth. He gave up a two-run homer to Pedro Florimon in the fifth and loaded the bases with one out in the sixth before Rich Hill relieved.

Florimon's grounder to first made it 9-4. Alex Presley followed with a two-run single to tighten the game considerably at 9-6.

Kipnis gave the Indians revamped bullpen -- minus Chris Perez in the closer's role -- some room to work in the eighth with a long double to center to score Stubbs for a 10-6 lead. Stubbs beat out an infield hit to start the inning, stole second and cruised home on Kipnis' third hit of the night.

The double gave Kipnis 36 for the season.

Stubbs made it 12-6 with a two-run homer in the ninth. It was his 10th of the season.

Justin Masterson, who is going to play a pivotal role in pen, struck out the side in the eighth after walking Plouffe to start the inning. Masterson, the Tribe's former No.1 starter, could pitch anywhere from the sixth through ninth inning as Francona looks for ways to close games with Perez struggling.

"We thought about sending him back out for the ninth," said Francona, "but we but we felt if we held him back we could get more out of him Sunday."

The work of Masterson and Marc Rzepczynski, in particular, allowed Francona to rest his main late-inning relievers Cody Allen, Joe Smith and Bryan Shaw.

"That is going to help us a lot," said Francona.

Kluber, making his fourth and final start against the Twins this season, allowed six runs on 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings. The one saving grace is that he walked just one with five strikeouts.

He entered this season with just two big league wins in his career. He leaves it with 11 victories in this season alone.

Hernandez (3-3, 6.83) allowed six runs on seven hits in 1 2/3 innings. He threw 43 pitches, only 22 (51 percent) for strikes. In three starts against the Indians this year, he's 1-2 with a 9.75 ERA.