Roster Update: The Indians released Ezequiel Carrera today, two days after signing him in the first place. Carrera went two for four with an RBI, a run scored and a sacrifice bunt. His .500 average while with the Tribe brings his season average up from .077 with the Phillies to .176 overall. Because of his two day success in Cleveland, he is that much more likely to be grabbed off waivers this time. By making this move it seems that Michael Bourn must be just about to come back to the team (he starts his rehab assignment in Columbus tomorrow) and that Nick Swisher may be available to play the outfield again. Today, Ryan Raburn is back in the lineup in right field.
In Carrera's place, the Indians have recalled left handed reliever, Scott Barnes. The Indians preferred lefty, Nick Hagadone, is still stuck in AAA as he was sent down just three days ago and needs to wait 10 days (or until another player is placed on the DL) to return. Don't be surprised if Barnes is sent back down in three days when Bourn returns from the DL.
Player of the Game
With a solo home run in the ninth inning to bring the Indians within two runs, Carlos Santana wins today's Player of the Game. Santana also singled and threw out a runner trying to steal/hit-and-run. Santana scored 3.81 POG points with Scott Barnes right behind with 2.90 for his two innings pitched.
Feathers Up
With the Indians offense failing early, Asdrubal Cabrera created his own. After a double, Cabrera stole third with one out and Mark Reynolds up to bat. This put Reynolds in a situation he couldn't help but succeed in and he hit a sacrifice fly to extremely deep centerfield. With Reynolds up the steal was questionable and would have been a failure without a great head first slide, but without it, the Indians would not have scored in that inning.
Scott Barnes second appearance with the Tribe was much better than his first, when he gave up a home run in one inning of relief. Today, Barnes threw the final two innings for the Tribe and struck out 4 while keeping the Twins off the board.
This Twins team is far better than they look on paper, so winning the series in itself should be considered a positive note. The young Minnesota team plays solid defense and has a lot of scrappy hitters, brining around a new era of Twins small ball. They also still have their big names in Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau (both healthy at the same time for the first time in a long time), making them a formidable opponent.
Feathers Down
Matt Albers was tasked with keeping the game within two runs in the seventh inning, but was unable to do so. Albers has been the Indians most inconsistentt reliever to this point in the year and in this case, walked a batter before giving up a two out double to Joe Mauer. The double scored a run and gave the Twins a 4-1 lead. On a positive note, Mauer was only safe on three hits during the series. An impressive feat against the three time batting champion.
The offense was generally anemic today as the Tribe was kept under six runs for the first time since the Indians six game winning streak started. Cleveland averaged almost 9 runs a game across that span, but was unable to score more than two today against Mike Pelfrey and the rest of the Twins pitching staff.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 – Minnesota Twins 4
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