Roster Update: Continuing with the constantly shifting roster, the Indians made two moves today that were long overdue. First, Justin Masterson was finally placed on the 15 Day DL for the knee injury that has plagued him for more than a month. In his place, Nick Hagadone was brought back after just eight games in AAA. This could be another short stay, however, as the Indians will need a new starting pitcher in a few days.
In a separate move, Roberto Perez received a much deserved promotion after batting .305/.405/.517 in his second season with the Clippers. The 25 year old catcher was a 33 round pick for the Indians in 2008 and will make his Major League debut in his first appearance. To make room, Tyler Holt was sent back to AAA.
Player of the Game
Michael Brantley continues to add to his All-Star resume as he had three of the Indians four RBI hits in tonight’s game. He hit two RBI doubles in his first two at bats, then hit the blow that removed Masahiro Tanaka from the game in the seventh. After Tanaka had already retired the first two batters of the inning, Brantley crushed a ball deep into the seats in right center. This was the first time Tanaka had given up five runs or ten hits in a game and Brantley was a big part of both of those numbers.
Feathers Up
The Indians weren’t intimidated by the Yankee’s Japanese ace, Masahiro Tanaka as they got started early, scoring a run in the first inning. Jason Kipnis lead off the inning with a single, then easily stole second base before scoring on a Michael Brantley double. The second inning was close to the same as Kipnis singled and stole second again, but was stranded at second along with Chris Dickerson on third.
While he was far from perfect, Trevor Bauer was impressive, giving up just two earned runs in seven innings. This marked his eighth straight game where he pitched at least into the sixth, something the Indians supposed ace, Justin Masterson, has only done 11 times in 19 starts. It seems Bauer continues to improve each time out, this time by not allowing any hard hit balls and just four hits in total, none after the third inning. Unlike his early appearances, an error does not guarantee a terrible inning for Bauer as he shut down the Yankees after all three Indians errors. If anything, Bauer improved as the game went on, striking out his final two batters faced in the seventh inning after reaching 100 pitches.
Seeing pinstripes must have reminded Nick Swisher who he really is as he hit his second home run in as many nights against his former team. Tonight’s was a much bigger hit than last night’s as it came with a runner on and the Indians down by one run. In the sixth inning, Swisher took Masahiro Tanaka out to right to give the Indians the one run lead.
Just like the opener against New York, the Indians bullpen was great again tonight, although had had to pitch significantly fewer innings. Bryan Shaw threw a perfect eighth, earning his twelfth hold of the season (matching his 2013 total), then Cody Allen came on for the two run save. Allen proceeded to put down the Yankees in order, striking out Brian Roberts and Ichiro Suzuki to end the game and secure his tenth save.
Feathers Down
All the good will earned by the Indians defense in last night’s game was thrown out the window tonight as the Tribe committed three errors, only one of which lead to an unearned run. The error that allowed the run was an overthrow of second by Yan Gomes, a common occurrence early in the season that he had avoided in the past three months. On the play, Jacoby Ellsbury scored from third as both he and Mark Teixeira were safe on the double steal. Later on, both Lonnie Chisenhall and Nick Swisher made less forgivable errors as they let balls roll between their legs in the third and fifth innings.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 – New York Yankees 3
On Deck: Tomorrow night, the newest Yankee, Brandon McCarthy will take on Josh Tomlin in game three of the four game series at 7:05 PM.
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