Roster Update: After his poor start last night, Danny Salazar has been sent back to AAA to get some less stressful work in. In his place, Kyle Crockett was the second player to make his Major League debut with the Indians in two days. To replace Salazar in the rotation, Trevor Bauer will be recalled on Tuesday.
Player of the Game
Despite striking out in his final three at bats, no one had a better night than Nick Swisher. Swisher gave the Indians a one run lead in the first inning, a fact quickly forgotten as the Athletics went on to score 11 runs. The home run was Swisher’s third of the season and lead to a POG score of 2.42, giving him his fourth Player of the Game of the season.
Feathers Up
One of the few positives from this game came from the debut of Kyle Crockett. Crockett came in during the second inning after the A’s had already scored eight and walked the first batter. He did come back from his initial nerves to get Yeonis Cespedes to ground into a double play. Brought out for the third, the 22 year old rookie gave up a solo home run to Jed Lowrie and a single to Derrik Norris before getting two fly outs to end his time in the game. C.C. Lee relieved him mid inning and stranded his runner on second.
The Indians used the blow out as an opportunity to experiment, playing Jesus Aguilar at third (he had just one game at third in the minors and no chances) and Mike Aviles in center. Neither player had a game at that position in their Major League career to that point, but of course, Aguilar’s career began just yesterday. Aguilar did get tested immediately and made a nice play, although Craig Gentry beat the throw to first for an infield single. The Indians most likely want to see what Aviles can do in center because of the recent injury scares with Michael Bourn and Michael Brantley.
Milestone Alert: With walks in each of his first two at bats, Asdrubal Cabrera has moved into a tie with Joe Gordon for the 50th most walks in Indians history (278). Although he is not known for his selectivity at the plate, this milestone is a testament to his eight years with the Indians as was his milestone of 200 doubles hit in last night’s game.
If Carlos Carrasco had pitched as a starter the way he did in relief tonight, he would still be a starter. He threw the final four innings of the game, striking out five and allowing just two runs on Josh Reddick’s second home run of the game. Carrasco also induced two double plays as he produced his best appearance of the season.
Feathers Down
Zach McAllister had an impressive first, striking out the side, but the dust is still falling from his implosion in the second. McAllister gave up hits to the first three batters in the inning then walked the fourth. With the bases loaded and a run already in, Josh Reddick hit the first grand slam against the Tribe this year. That wasn’t enough for the A’s and after a ground out, McAllister walked two more and gave up a three run home run to Josh Donaldson. Eight runs was finally enough for Terry Francona and McAllister was pulled after just 1.1 innings, giving way to the debut of Crockett.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 1 – Oakland Athletics 11
On Deck: A Saturday night special, the Indians will take on the Athletics tomorrow night at 7:05 PM and try to get back for tonight’s drubbing. Josh Tomlin will face off against former Indian, Scott Kazmir.
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