CLEVELAND -- The calendar said August, but it felt like October.

Jose Ramirez hit a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Cleveland Indians to a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field.

With several thousand Blue Jays fans making the five-hour drive from Toronto to Cleveland, the ballpark was packed for all three games of the series, bringing a playoff-atmosphere to Progressive Field, and the games didn't disappoint.

"We won two of three, and had the lead for about 10 minutes," said Indians manager Terry Francona.

Toronto manager John Gibbons tipped his cap.

"That's a pretty damn good team. They got the best of us this weekend," Gibbons said.

With one out in the eighth inning and Toronto leading 2-1, Brett Cecil relieved starter Marcus Stroman. Cecil retired Jason Kipnis on a fly out for the second out, but Francisco Lindor reached on an infield single.

Ramirez then hit the first pitch Cecil threw him over the left-field wall for his 10th home run, giving Cleveland a 3-2 lead.

"The way their guy (Stroman) pitched, it was really hard to sustain anything," Francona said. "All of a sudden Jose comes up and ... it all happened so fast."

It was Ramirez's second late-game homer of the series. Friday night he hit a game-tying home run in the ninth inning, immediately before a walk-off inside-the-park homer by Tyler Naquin.

"Ramirez just wore us out," Gibbons said.

Lindor agreed with that assessment.

"It's unreal the things he's doing this year," Lindor said.

Cody Allen pitched the ninth inning to earn 24th save, but it wasn't easy. Allen struck out the first two batters of the inning, but the next two, Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion, both drew walks. Russell Martin worked the count to 3-2 before lining Allen's 30th pitch of the inning to right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall for the final out.

"That was fun. There's no feeling like it," Francona said. "Your heart's in your throat, but you like it. It's agony and awesome, and our young guys never flinched."

Mike Clevinger (2-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out three, to get the win. Cecil (1-7) took the loss.

Both starting pitchers pitched well, but were not involved in the decision.

Stroman pitched 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run on seven hits with nine strikeouts and one walk.

"He was great. He did everything right," Gibbons said.

Cleveland's Corey Kluber pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on six hits with eight strikeouts and four walks.

"Corey was tremendous," Francona said. "That's a really potent lineup. You hold that team to two runs, you're doing something."

After Kluber retired the first six batters he faced, Toronto scored its two runs in the third inning, on a solo home run by Melvin Upton Jr. and an RBI single by Donaldson, giving Toronto a 2-0 lead.

"I just tried to keep us close because we have faith that our offense will battle back," Kluber said.

Stroman held Cleveland scoreless on three hits through five innings. The Indians finally broke through to score a run in the sixth inning. The inning began with consecutive singles by Carlos Santana, Kipnis and Lindor, with the single by Lindor driving in Santana to cut the Toronto lead to 2-1.

The Blue Jays knocked Kluber out of the game in the seventh inning, even though they failed to score a run. After Kluber retired the first two batters, Goins drew a walk, Travis singled and Donaldson drew a walk to load the bases.

Clevinger relieved Kluber. While pitching to Edwin Encarnacion, Clevinger was called for a balk by third base umpire Greg Gibson, and Goins trotted home with an apparent run. However, time had been called before the balk was called. Goins returned to third, and Clevinger struck out Encarnacion to end the inning.

"There was a lot going on there, but Clevinger did a good job of keeping his composure," Francona said.

NOTES: Blue Jays RHP Aaron Sanchez has been optioned to Class A Dunedin, which is part of the Blue Jays' strategy to limit his innings. Sanchez will not pitch in a game at Dunedin. He will be recalled by the Blue Jays on Aug. 31 and will pitch that day against Baltimore. ... To replace Sanchez on the roster, the Blue Jays recalled LHP Aaron Loup from Triple-A Buffalo. In 17 relief appearances with Buffalo, Loup was 3-0 with a 1.08 ERA. ... The Central Division-leading Indians have a seven-game lead on second-place Detroit. That's the Indians' biggest lead this late in the season since the last day of the 2007 season when they won the Central Division by eight games over the second-place Tigers. ... Indians 3B Jose Ramirez has reached base safely in 26 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the majors. Ramirez is hitting .377 (40-for-106) during the streak.