Player of the Game
From May 10th through June 6th it seemed like every starter made an excellent start each time his turn came to take the mound. Since then, things have been a little more sporadic, but Carlos Carrasco appeared to be back in line today and combined with a great debut from Cody Anderson in the fifth spot, it could signify a return to normal for the rotation. Carrasco threw eight innings and didn’t allow two base runners in a single inning until the seventh. He allowed five hits overall (three in the two run seventh) and one walk, which was erased on a double play. In addition, he struck out seven with the only runs coming on a J.D. Martinez, two run home run.
Feathers Up
Milestone Update: Jason Kipnis‘ hitting streak is now at 19 games (28 game home streak) after a third inning single that actually turned into a run. Lindor and Michael Brantley also singled to score Kipnis. His current streak is the longest in baseball this year.
In addition to those hits, there was some additional offense in the third worth mentioning. David Murphy also singled (to extend his on base streak to four at bats) and Carlos Santana pulled a double to the gap in right center to bring home two more, giving the Indians their first lead in the series.
Milestone Alert: Lindor made up for a base running gaffe that inning with his first career home run, a solo shot in the fifth inning that pushed the score to 4-0. The long ball came off starting pitcher Buck Farmer and landed a few rows deep in right center.
Adding on has been hard to do for the Indians of late, but they certainly were able to today. After taking the initial 3-0 lead, Cleveland added runs in each of the fifth through ninth innings, aided by some control woes from the Detroit bullpen. Of particular note were Lindor walking with the bases loaded in the sixth, Yan Gomes singling home two in the seventh and Ryan Raburn hitting a pinch hit RBI double in the eighth. There were still some issues, but in general, the Indians did a much better job both getting runners on and completing the scoring situations here today.
Feathers Down
And now on to your regularly scheduled description of a run scoring opportunity that the Indians didn’t take advantage of. The Indians had a great opportunity to score before they actually did, although it came with two outs. Buck Farmer had major issues with command in the first inning and walked both Lindor and Murphy. With two outs, a wild pitch allowed the runners to move to second and third, at which point Santana lost his patient approach and took a huge swing for strike three.
Any win is great, but this one to keep the Tigers from sweeping the series, shouldn’t be celebrated too loudly. The original starter, former AL Cy Young, MVP and triple crown winner Justin Verlander was scratched and replaced with the Tigers’ least experienced starter, Farmer, who allowed seven runs in five innings in his only other start this year. In addition, rather than giving their other MVP and triple crown winner, Miguel Cabrera, a half day off as DH, the man with a .619 average, five home runs and 16 RBI in 11 games against the Tribe this year was given a full day off. Even after Farmer was pulled in the sixth, the Tigers went to Tom Gorzelanny, their least dependable reliever with a 6.95 ERA and .326 BAA coming into the game. Considering how important a single win can be at the end of the year, this was a surprising move by Detroit, but it certainly looks like it was a mercy win.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 8 – Detroit Tigers 2
On Deck: The Indians refuse to lose tomorrow as they will take the day off, traveling to Baltimore. Corey Kluber will begin that series against the Orioles at 7:05 PM Friday night.
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