Three up, three down: Indians surge to AL Central lead while Mets have turned into a mess

What’s trending in Major League Baseball:

3 UP

Tribe quest: After hovering near .500 for 2½ months, the defending AL-champion Cleveland Indians have hit their stride, moving into first place by winning eight of nine games in which they outscored the Dodgers, Minnesota and Baltimore by 68-23 from June 15 through Thursday. Slugger Edwin Encarnacion, who signed a three-year, $60-million deal last winter, is batting .351 with a 1.144 on-base-plus-slugging-percentage, 10 homers and 23 runs batted in in 26 games through Thursday; he hit .208 with a .709 OPS, seven homers and 17 RBIs in 43 games through May 22. After a two-game glitch against the Dodgers, uber reliever Andrew Miller escaped a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in Wednesday’s 5-1 win over Baltimore.

June boom: When Seattle catcher Mike Zunino was optioned to triple-A on May 5, the fourth demotion in three years for a player who was the third overall pick in the 2012 draft, he was hitting .167 with no homers, two RBIs and a .236 slugging percentage in 24 games. Since returning to the Mariners on May 23 with a retooled stance and approach, Zunino, 26, has been Johnny Bench-like, hitting .319 with 10 homers — including a pair of two-run shots in a 6-2 win over Detroit last Monday — 31 RBIs and a .702 slugging percentage in 27 games through Friday. His 26 RBIs in the first 19 days of June set a franchise record for the most RBIs in any month by a catcher.

Cowboy up: The most polarizing umpire in baseball joined an exclusive club Tuesday when “Cowboy” Joe West called his 5,000th game, working the plate for a game between Colorado and Arizona, franchises that didn’t exist when he began his big league career in 1976. Only Bill Klem (5,369) and Bruce Froemming (5,163) have called more games than West, 64, who is known for his outspoken opinions on issues such as the designated hitter and pace of play and his penchant for heated arguments and ejections. How long can West continue? “Until these TV people get tired of looking at me,” he told the Chicago Tribune. “My mother says it’s a great job because I wear a mask and I don’t scare the kids.”

3 DOWN

New York Mess: Was it two seasons ago that the Mets ousted the Dodgers in a dramatic five-game division series en route to the 2015 World Series? Seems like two decades ago. A once-vaunted rotation, without the injured Noah Syndergaard and Matt Harvey, ranked 14th in the NL with a bloated 5.15 ERA through Friday. The mishandling of Syndergaard’s injury, a torn back muscle, and Harvey’s three-day suspension without pay for violating team rules in early May have added to a soap opera feel around the club. Getting torched by the Dodgers, who outscored the Mets 36-11 in a four-game sweep, and falling 10 below .500 this past week didn’t help.

A step back: Eight months removed from a dramatic Willis Reed-like return in the World Series, Chicago Cubs slugger Kyle Schwarber was demoted to triple-A on Thursday with the hope he can clear his head and find his swing. After suffering what was thought to be a season-ending knee injury in the second game of 2016, Schwarber returned in the World Series and hit .412 (7 for 17) with two RBIs in five games to help the Cubs beat Cleveland. He has 12 homers this season but is batting .171 with a .378 slugging percentage and 75 strikeouts in 222 at-bats. “At the end of the day, you have to do what you think is best for him,” manager Joe Maddon said, “and what’s best for him is gonna be the best for us.”

Depth charge: The San Francisco Giants further tormented themselves and their fans on a 1-7 trip to Colorado and Atlanta that dropped them 21 games under .500 on Thursday. They scored eight runs in the final three innings to tie the Rockies 9-9, only to lose 10-9 on June 15. Last Sunday, they scored three in the ninth — two on a Hunter Pence homer — for a 5-3 lead over Colorado, only to lose 7-5 on Nolan Arenado’s cycle-capping three-run, walk-off homer. Pence hit a game-tying homer in the ninth Wednesday in Atlanta; then Matt Kemp hit a two-run homer in the 11th to win it for the Braves. “It’s our third comeback on this trip and we lost them all,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “It’s disheartening.”

SERIES OF THE WEEK

Dodgers vs. Angels

Monday and Tuesday at Dodger Stadium,

Wednesday and Thursday at Angel Stadium

The Angels have a 61-49 edge in the Freeway Series since the start of interleague play in 1997, but their injury-depleted club will be heavy underdogs against the hottest team in baseball. The Dodgers throttled the Mets in a four-game sweep last week, hitting 15 homers, a franchise record for a four-game series. They won 13 of 14 games entering a weekend series against Colorado. With Mike Trout out because of a thumb injury, you could argue that the Dodgers are better than the Angels at seven of eight field positions, with the Angels’ Cameron Maybin getting the nod over Joc Pederson in center field, four rotation spots and most certainly at closer with Kenley Jansen, who was 4-0 with an 0.87 ERA, 16 saves in 16 opportunities and 50 strikeouts and zero walks in 31 innings through Thursday.

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

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