Player of the Game
When a player hits a grand slam especially against a pitching ace such as Chris Sale, that man is probably going to get this award and this case is no exception. Carlos Santana blasted one over the fence in left-center field to break open what had been a 2-0 game in the bottom of the 3rd. That gave the Indians a huge 6-0 advantage on a night when Cody Anderson was on his game, pitching in a bend-don’t-break fashion for the early portion of the game. Santana finished the night going 1-for-4 with four RBI, one walk, and one run scored. He narrowly missed adding on to those totals when he hit a screaming liner with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning to the third baseman Mike Olt.
Feathers Up
Anderson was able to get outs when he needed to tonight and gave up just one run and five hits, while striking out six hitters and walking five in 6.2 innings to give the Tribe another quality start. After Santana’s grand slam, Anderson settled down and was in command for the rest of the game and his only real blemish occurred when he gave up a solo home run to Melky Cabrera with two outs in the fifth inning. He finished up the night throwing a total of 101 pitches to pick up his fifth win of the season.
After a Carlos Sanchez error put two Indians on base rather than turning a double play, Mike Aviles took advantage by opening the scoring in the big six-run (all unearned runs) third inning with a single on a soft fly ball to center that landed just beyond the reach of second baseman Sanchez and in front of center-fielder Adam Eaton to allow Roberto Perez to score. Michael Brantley then singled on a line drive to left field to score Jose Ramirez to make it 2-0.
Francisco Lindor continues to build his case for American League Rookie of the Year after hitting his 10th home run of the season. The solo shot to right field made it 7-1 in the seventh inning. Lindor is now hitting .319 for the season after finishing his night 3-for-5 with a run scored and RBI.
Aviles also added another RBI in the bottom of the eighth inning when he singled with the bases loaded on a ground ball to left field to make the score 8-1. Brantley who went 3-for-5 for the night then added another single that was deflected by the pitcher Dan Jennings to score Jose Ramirez to give the Indians a 9-1 lead. Chisenhall followed with a base-loaded walk to make it 10-1. The Indians continued to pile on when Chris Johnson singled on a ground ball to right field to score two more runs concluding the five-run scoring binge at 12-1.
Feathers Down
There really isn’t a whole lot to complain about in a blowout win when just about everyone in the lineup gets a hit or scores a run, so I’m not going to spend a lot of time here, but I’ll nitpick a little bit here. Abraham Almonte had a tough night as he was 0-for-5, and Jose Ramirez was 0-for-3, but scored two runs to contribute to the victory.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 12 – Chicago White Sox 1
Scoreboard Watch:
The Los Angeles Angels vs Minnesota Twins game was postponed due to rain so the Indians picked up a half game against both clubs after defeating the White Sox. Cleveland is now just one game behind the Angels and two games in back of Minnesota in the Wild Card standings.
Meanwhile, Houston was leading the Oakland Athletics 3-2 after five innings when the Indians game concluded. Texas was trailing the Seattle Mariners 3-1 after five innings.
On Deck: The Indians and White Sox will play the second game of the three-game series at 7:10 p.m. on Sept. 19 with Carlos Carrasco (13-10, 3.62 ERA) starting the game for the Tribe. Carlos Rodon (7-6, 3.94 ERA) takes the mound for Chicago.
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