Player of the Game
Runs were hard to come by for the Indians tonight, but Mike Aviles found a way to be involved in most of them. He wins tonight's Player of the Game for his one run scored, one RBI, 1-4 effort. He knocked in the first run of the game for the Tribe after Mark Reynolds had doubled with a ground out and scored the second after he doubled himself.
Feathers Up
The Indian killer for the Red Sox series was Boston firstbaseman Mike Napoli. In three games, Napoli went 5/12 with two runs scored and five RBI, but in the third inning of tonight's game, he didn't get a hit. With two outs and runners at second and third, Zach McAllister struck out Napoli. While striking out Napoli isn't all that impressive (he has k'd 20 times in 15 games), it was impressive to see an Indians pitcher keep him from clearing the bases just once during the series.
The Indians get to play three games against the worst team in baseball starting tomorrow. Feathers Down: The Astros may be saying the same thing.
Feathers Down
For the first time this season, Zach McAllister pitched less than six innings and walked a batter. His start wasn't all that bad as he made it through five innings, striking out six, but with the offense missing pieces and being as hit or miss as it has been early this year, giving up three runs is simply too much. The good part of this is that he is still averaging more than 5 innings per start and has only walked two batters in three starts. He has been, by far, the second best pitcher in the Indians rotation so far this year, despite being named the fourth starter.
Tonight wasn't a great night for Michael Brantley, who struck out in each of his first three at bats, twice looking. The called third strike in his second at bat was more than questionable, but arguing about it certainly didn't help as he struck out looking the next time out as well.
The Indians have now lost four in a row, looking like a shadow of the team that won the first two games against Chicago by a combined score of 10-4. Since then, they have been outscored 22-9 in four games by the colored and non-colored Sox. The sweep leaves the Indians in last place in the AL Central.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 3 – Boston Red Sox 6
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