CLEVELAND -- For most of the game it looked like a no-hitter and it smelled like a no-hitter.

It turned out to be a three-hitter.

Cleveland Indians right-hander Corey Kluber flirted with a no-hitter, and Cleveland's lineup had another big offensive day as the Indians rolled to an 8-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field.

The Indians scored 34 runs in the three-game series, and won two of the three.

Kluber (7-12) held Minnesota hitless through six innings, facing the minimum 18 batters in that span. The only base runner was center fielder Aaron Hicks, who drew a walk with one out in the fourth inning. Hicks was promptly erased when the next batter, designated hitter Joe Mauer, grounded into an inning-ending double play.

"I looked up and in the eighth inning he (Kluber) had only thrown about 17 balls, or about two an inning. He was on cruise control most of the day," said Twins manager Paul Molitor.

Kluber retired the first two batters in the seventh inning before Mauer lined a 1-2 pitch to left field for a clean single, ending Kluber's no-hit bid.

"I give Kluber credit. He went right after Joe, he didn't shy away from him," said Molitor, whose team has lost eight of its last 10 games, and on Sunday concluded a dismal 1-6 trip to Toronto and Cleveland.

"A no-hitter probably would have been par for the course the way we've been going lately," Molitor said. "Kluber had the stuff to do it, no doubt about that."

Kluber had to settle for a three-hitter, the other hits being ninth-inning doubles by left fielder Shane Robinson and Hicks that produced the Twins' only run. It is Kluber's third complete game of the season. He struck out 10 and walked one.

"You're aware of it," Kluber said of entering the late innings having not given up a hit, "but I wasn't pitching to not give up hits. I was just trying to get outs."

Indians manager Terry Francona said he knew early in the game that this was going to be a special game for Kluber.

"You could tell from the get go, the way he was attacking the zone with everything," said Francona. "That was one of the better performances we've seen this season."

Cleveland hitters continued their three-day mauling of Minnesota's starting pitchers by knocking right-hander Phil Hughes out of the game after three innings. Hughes (10-8) gave up seven runs on nine hits.

In the three-game series, the Twins' three starting pitchers, right-handers Mike Pelfrey, Ervin Santana and Hughes, had a combined 22.00 ERA, having given up 22 runs in nine innings. The Indians hit .592 (29-for-49) as a team against the Twins' three starters.

Hughes gave up runs in all three innings he pitched. In the first inning shortstop Francisco Lindor reached on an infield single and scored on a double by designated hitter Carlos Santana.

The Indians added two runs in the second inning on a two-run single by second baseman Jose Ramirez, giving Cleveland a 3-0 lead.

The Indians blew it open with a four-run third. Lindor led off with a walk and went to third on a double by left fielder Michael Brantley. A sacrifice fly by Santana scored Lindor to make it 4-0. Catcher Yan Gomes followed with a double to center field that scored Brantley to extend the lead to 5-0.

Center fielder Abraham Almonte then capped the rally with a booming two-run home run over the center-field wall, and the Cleveland lead was 7-0. Almonte was recalled from Triple-A Columbus on Friday, and in his two games with the Indians he is 5-for-9, with two doubles, two home runs and four RBIs.

The Indians added another run in the sixth inning against right-hander Casey Fien. First baseman Chris Johnson, who had four of the Indians' 14 hits, led off with a double to left field, and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Lindor.

The Indians won the last two games of the series by a combined score of 25-5.

"The last two days have really been encouraging, and flat out fun. Everybody played with energy, and I loved that," Francona said.

NOTES: OF Abraham Almonte, who was 4-for-5 Friday, is the third player in Indians history to have four hits in his first game with the team, according to Elias. The others were Billy Hunter in 1958 and Kevin Seitzer in 1996. Almonte is the only one whose four hits included a home run. ... Indians OF Michael Brantley, who was hitting .292 at the All-Star break, is hitting .377 (29-for-77) since the break. ... The Twins' 17-4 loss to the Indians Saturday night was the most runs allowed by the Twins since an 18-3 loss to Oakland on Sept. 11, 2003.