Player of the Game
Carlos Carrasco was dominant again today continuing his stretch of great starts since rejoining the rotation. In six starts, he has allowed just three runs (never more than one per start) and today was his best yet. He threw 8.2 shut out, striking out eight and allowing just three hits and no walks. The lack of Indians offense made a great start necessary and Carrasco was up to the challenge, throwing a better game than Corey Kluber, who throws the day before him, for the fifth start in a row.
Feathers Up
Milestone Alert: Michael Bourn lead off the game with his league leading tenth triple of the season on a line drive that kept carrying over center fielder Adam Eaton’s head. There have been 92 times an Indians hitter has hit at least 10 triples, but 86 occurred prior to 1953 and this is the first time an Indian hitter has reached the mark since Grady Sizemore hit 11 in 2006. In addition to Sizemore (2005 and 2006), Brett Butler (1985 and 1986), Kenny Lofton (1995) and Roberto Alomar (2001) were the other hitters since 1952 to accomplish the feat.
The fact that the Indians were able to sweep the White Sox this series while scoring a total of seven runs is nothing short of amazing and the reason for it was the tremendous pitching all around. In all three games, only one earned run was scored (against T.J. House in the opener) and one unearned against Kluber yesterday. The three starters combined for 24.2 innings, 15 hits and no walks allowed for the series. In addition, they had the White Sox swinging at everything, putting together 23 strike outs as well.
Feathers Down
The Indians had a hard time scoring again today and a couple base running errors late in the game made things even harder. In the seventh, Jason Kipnis singled to lead off the inning, but was caught off the base on a Lonnie Chisenhall line drive. While David Murphy added another hit later in the inning, it went for naught with two outs already in the inning. In the ninth, Carlos Santana made a more egregious error, but the Indians were at least able to benefit. After singles by Roberto Perez and Michael Bourn, Robin Ventura chose to intentionally walk Michael Brantley to face Carlos Santana with the bases loaded. Santana hit a dribbler down the first base line and Andy Wilkins misplayed it, allowing the ball to get behind him. Perez easily scored from third, but Santana never left the box and was easily thrown out at first. Had he ran the play out, he would easily have been safe on an error and the Indians would have kept the bases juiced with one out.
It was really a shame that Terry Francona felt the need to remove Carlos Carrasco in the ninth inning after two outs were recorded. While the Indians did still win, with Cody Allen recording a save, he deprived Carrasco from both his first career shut out and complete game. This was possibly the best game of Carrasco’s career and he looked more than able to finish off the game despite allowing two singles in the inning.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 – Chicago White Sox 0
On Deck: Monday, the Indians will play a quick one game series with the Angels to make up a game rained out earlier in the year. It will be an early start so the Angels can get back on the road quickly as they play the Rangers in Texas the next night.
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