Player of the Game
It took a long time, but Michael Brantley finally ended this game for good with a two out, walk off home run in the tenth inning. Brantley had already been on base three times during the game with a double, walk and HBP, but none of that mattered as his solo home run in extra innings finished things for good.
Feathers Up
While much negativity has surrounded Ryan Raburn’s start to this season, the Indians wouldn’t have scored their first run tonight without him. Raburn walked after Asdrubal Cabrera singled. Carlos Santana then walked as well, after which a Drew Smyly wild pitch with Yan Gomes at bat brought Cabrera home. While only Cabrera gets the credit, he never would have scored without the two walks. Raburn walked again in his second at bat and added a single in his third and fifth at bats, reaching base safely three times in a game for the first time this season.
Jesus Aguilar finally got his first career hit and RBI on the same play as the Indians grabbed a two run lead in the fifth inning. Just after Nick Swisher poked an RBI single to right, Aguilar hit a grounder between short and third. Andrew Romine was unable to handle the ball in the gap and Yan Gomes scored from third. While it wasn’t quite what was expected of Aguilar, anything to get a little confidence after starting the season 0-4 with two strike outs is a good thing. Aguilar added his second RBI in his next at bat, hitting a sacrifice fly to center to score Gomes again and give the Indians the 4-3 lead.
Corey Kluber had just a minor blemish through the first six innings in another fantastic start, a solo home run by Victor Martinez that lead off the second inning. Other than that, he handled the hard swinging Tigers lineup beautifully, striking out eight and allowing just six base runners through the first six. As he started to tire in seventh, he did give up three base hits and two runs to tie the game, but it was still an excellent start.
Feathers Down
The amount of base runners the Indians had tonight (18) was impressive, but they still had a hard time scoring, especially early on. If it weren’t for the Smyly wild pitch in the first the Indians wouldn’t have scored at all in that inning and they blew chances with two on in the third, fourth, sixth, eighth and ninth innings, any of which would have allowed the game to end in regulation. Of course, much of this is due to luck as much as anything else and if they keep getting on base at this rate, the runs will come.
In between easy ground outs to first, Cody Allen gave up a huge solo home run in the ninth inning to J.D. Martinez that tied the game. It was his fourth career blown save and his first this season after being named part of the closer by committee. As is often the case, the committee may have been a poor choice as they have already blown three of six chances this season while the original closer, John Axford, only blew two of eleven. Allen did not allow the Tigers to gain the lead, despite a double by Ian Kinsler after the home run. In the past two games he has allowed four earned runs, four hits and two walks in one inning pitched.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 – Detroit Tigers 4
On Deck: Tribe and Tigers take two as Trevor Bauer (and possibly Jason Giambi) will return to the Indians to take on Justin Verlander.
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