ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Ji-Man Choi hit a two-run homer off Brad Hand with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Indians 6-5 on Monday night to set a team record with their 12th straight victory at home.

Cleveland ace Corey Kluber was chased in the second inning, but the Indians rallied before blowing a late lead. They started play with a magic number of five to clinch their third consecutive AL Central championship. Second-place Minnesota was at home against the New York Yankees.

Tommy Pham grounded a single to right field before Choi went deep against Hand (0-1).

It appeared Jose Ramirez's nifty baserunning would help Cleveland overcome a poor start by Kluber.

Ramirez was hit by Chaz Roe's pitch to start the seventh, stole second and third, and scored to put the Indians ahead 5-4 with a headfirst slide to beat second baseman Brandon Lowe's throw home on Yonder Alonso's grounder.

Kluber lasted just 1 2/3 innings _ matching his season low _ and gave up four runs and five hits. The right-hander and Tampa Bay's Blake Snell are tied for the most wins in the majors with 18.

Jake Bauers homered for the Rays, who moved with 7{ games of Oakland for the second AL wild card with 19 games left.

Jamie Schultz (2-0) worked a scoreless ninth to get the win.

Cleveland reliever Andrew Miller, reinstated from the 10-day disabled list after being out since Aug. 27 with a left shoulder injury, struck out two during a perfect sixth inning.

Six Cleveland relievers limited Tampa Bay to one hit entering the ninth.

After striking out two during an 11-pitch first inning, Kluber was pulled after 44 pitches in the second with the Indians trailing 4-0.

Willy Adames hit an RBI single, Bauers had a two-run shot and Choi was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Edwin Encarnacion had an RBI single in the first and Ramirez hit a run-scoring double in the fifth.

Cleveland tied it 4-all on pinch-hitter Brandon Guyer's two-run double in the sixth.

Pham singled in the second and has a career-high 14-game hitting streak.

The Rays became the 29th team to reach 1 million (1,006,766) in home attendance with an announced crowd of 12,724. Only Miami (747,450) has lower attendance at home.