Roster Update: Chris Perez's injury was apparently as serious as it looked yesterday and the Indians closer has been sent to the disabled list. He will get an MRI on his right shoulder today to assess the damage. Vinnie Pestano has been named interim closer in his stead while Nick Hagadone has been brought back to take his place on the 40 man roster. Hopefully it will be Hagadone's last trip to Columbus ever.
Player of the Game
Ubaldo Jimenez got himself back to good today with his fifth above average start in his last six games. He threw a season high seven innings and allowed just two runs, while striking out five. He left the game for a pinch hitter with the game still tied so he wasn't involved in the decision, but still earned 3.44 POG points.
Feathers Up
A very rare Brandon Phillips error (career fielding percent of .988) helped lead to an Indians run when Jason Kipnis was able to get to third on the play which occurred with Nick Swisher at bat. Kipnis then scored on Carlos Santana's sacrifice fly that, without the error, would have been the third out of the inning.
Jason Giambi broke an 0-24 streak with a pinch-hit solo home run to tie the game in the 8th inning. The run was Mike Leake's first earned run allowed in 21 innings, spanning his last three games. Giambi's 432nd career home run traveled 464 feet to deep centerfield.
Feathers Down
The story from this game will almost certainly be Shin-Soo Choo homering off Ubaldo Jimenez in his first at bat as a Red against the Indians. This may seem like some kind of emotional vengeance, but the fact is that Jimenez has given up 42 home runs in his 51 games as an Indian and Choo has been playing incredibly well so far this year. Add to this the fact that Choo must have wanted out of Cleveland or else he would have signed long term when the Indians offered it to him and this whole story boils down to a good hitter taking a bad pitcher yard.
Nick Hagadone took the loss in his first game back. After allowing a single to one left hander, he gave up a home run to Joey Votto that provided all the runs the Reds needed to win the game.
There was an odd altercation in the ninth inning that saw Reds closer Aroldis Chapman throw at Nick Swisher's head on two consecutive pitches. Swisher flew out to deep left field and Chapman was jawing at him on his way back to the dugout. There seems to have been no previous animosity between the two or any other justification for Chapman's actions.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4 – Cincinnati Reds 2
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