Player of the Game
Lonnie Chisenhall continued his solid second half today with a two run home run off John Danks in the second inning that gave the Indians the lead. He later knocked in Yan Gomes a second time with a double in the sixth. While he has largely been kept out of games against left handed pitchers, this doesn’t really make baseball sense as he is now batting .259 against south paws with three extra base hits this year while his platoon mate, Jerry Sands, is batting only a little higher at .288 and doesn’t provide the defense that Chisenhall does against pitchers of either hand.
Feathers Up
Josh Tomlin continues to impress as he threw his eighth consecutive start this season with at least five innings and seventh of eight with three or fewer runs allowed. As usual, he didn’t allow many hits, three, or runs, none, but out of the ordinary were his seven strike outs and three walks. On the entire season to this point he had walked just three batters and walked none in five of eight starts. All Indians non-regular starters combined now have a 5.61 ERA in 186 innings with a 6.5 K/9. Tomlin is responsible for a 2.43 ERA and 8.5 K/9 in 55.2 of those innings.
In addition to Chisenhall’s double, the Indians put together a solid offensive inning in the sixth and didn’t need any bunts. Gomes lead off the inning with a double high off the wall in left center, then Chisenhall doubled him home. Abraham Almonte looked to bunt Chisenhall over, but eventually pulled the bat back and nearly ripped one over the head of Trayce Thompson in right, deep enough to move him anyway. Jason Kipnis then walked and Francisco Lindor brought home Chisenhall with a sacrifice fly, his second RBI of the game. Michael Brantley then finished things off with another double, this one of the shorter wall in right center, to score Kipnis from first.
While it may not be much, Jason Kipnis appears to be recovering from his recent slump. Today, he hit safely twice and walked once, giving him a four game hitting streak with two hits in each of his past 3 games. He has battled injuries much of the second half and had some poor luck as well with his BABIP, which was .369 in the entire first half, dropping to just .204 before today’s game in September.
Milestone Alert: Bryan Shaw‘s 218th career appearance ties him with Jake Westbrook for the 40th most used pitcher in Indians history. He now has 68 appearances on the season making him one of four pitchers with three seasons of 68 or more in one year. No Indians pitcher has ever had more than three and he is just the second to have those three seasons consecutively after Joe Smith from 2011-2013.
More Milestone: Believe it or not, today was Terry Francona‘s 251st win as the manager of the Cleveland Indians in his three seasons. This is something only 12 Indians managers have done before him and of the 13, his .532 winning percentage is sixth best.
Feathers Down
Zach McAllister was as good as he could have been in the sixth inning tonight, striking out his only batter faced and stranding a runner, but he was about as bad as he could be in the seventh. He started with another K, but that was the only batter he would retire. He walked Carlos Sanchez and allowed a double to Adam Eaton. When Jose Abreu sneaked a single in between Chisenhall and Santana down the right field line, both runners scored and McAllister was removed. Kyle Crockett then did a magnificent job by inducing a double play and ending the inning.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 6 – Chicago White Sox 3
Scoreboard Watch: The Indians got a head start today compared to their competitors and both relevant games were still in action at games end. The Twins leading the Angels 6-0 in the 6th and the Astros over Oakland 3-1 in the 8th.
On Deck: Monday will be the Indians final off-day of the season before heading off to an extremely important three game series in Minnesota that could go a long way in determining the second Wild Card winner. For the first game, Danny Salazar and Ervin Santana will take the mound at 8:10 PM, Tuesday night.
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