Roster Update: After a couple more unimpressive outings, Mark Lowe has been sent back down to AAA Columbus in exchange for left hander, Nick Hagadone. The Indians still have a nine man bullpen and now have three lefties. One of these pitchers will need to be sent down within the next two days as T.J. House is scheduled to start on Sunday.
Player of the Game
Michael Bourn continued his hot hitting, going 3/5 a game after going 3/4 with two triples. Bourn hit a double today to go with two singles along with a play where he was safe at first on an error. In his final at bat of the game, Bourn knocked in the second Indians run of the game, pushing Nick Swisher home from second with two outs. It was not enough as the Indians still lost by one when Asdrubal Cabrera popped out to short center.
Feathers Up
Michael Brantley showed off his greatest defensive attributes on one play tonight. On fly to deep left center by Mike Zunino, Brantley ranged to far in the outfield, jumped to rob a probable double, then picked up his ninth outfield assist of the season as he and Asdrubal Cabrera combined to catch Logan Morrison trying to get back to first. With the assist, Brantley is now second in all of Major League baseball to Yeonis Cespedes, who made his tenth assist earlier in the night.
Although Trevor Bauer wasn’t able to get out of a couple tight situations without runs scoring, he was able to limit the occurrence of those situations as he threw 6.1 innings, giving up just three runs on nine hits and two walks. Bauer struck out five and looked to get stronger as the game went on, until he finally lost it in the seventh, giving up Endy Chavez’s first home run of 2014 on his 111th pitch.
Mini-Milestone Alert: Jason Kipnis’ first inning double was his 400th career hit and his second double, in the eighth inning, was his 80th career double. Despite these hits, Kipnis was not involved in the scoring at all tonight.
Slightly Larger Milestone Alert: Vinnie Pestano retired just one batter tonight, Mike Zunino with runners at the corners in the eighth, but it was enough to mark his 186th appearance as a member of the Cleveland Indians, making him the 50th most used pitcher in Indians history, surpassing Bob Rhoads.
Feathers Down
The Mariners did the little things they needed to do to gain the lead twice in the first four innings. In the first with two outs, Endy Chavez stole second on a ball in the dirt, then came around to score on a Kyle Seager single. Morrison then grounded out to end the inning, making the steal the sole reason Seattle scored in the first. In the fourth, they repeated their two out scoring after Michael Saunders singled with two outs. Trevor Bauer was unable to put Dustin Ackley down after working a full count as a walk left runners on first and second. Brad Miller then put one into center in a very similar fashion to Seager’s hit, scoring Saunders from second. Bauer then struck out Chavez to end the inning.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 – Seattle Mariners 3
On Deck: Still in Seattle, the Indians will keep you up late with a 10:10 PM start time, tomorrow.
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