Player of the Game
Francisco Lindor added another argument to his Rookie of the Year case with a nice defensive play for the first out of the game, then a solo home run shortly after in the bottom of the inning. He added another RBI in the sixth, scoring Jason Kipnis from third after a lead-off triple and now has 11 home runs on the season and 49 RBI, both considerable numbers for a non-power hitter in just 93 games.
Feathers Up
KKKKKKluber Watch: With six strike outs tonight, Corey Kluber has reached 236 on the season moving him ahead of Gaylord Perry (1972) and Sam McDowell (1967) into 15th most strike outs in a single season in Indians history.
Milestone Alert: In addition to the single season mark, Kluber’s sixth strike out was his 700th in his career, moving him ahead of Len Barker into 25th in Indians history. He will likely make just one more start this year, but could break into the top 15 next year with an injury free campaign.
Lesser Milestone Alert: With his 72nd appearance of the season, Bryan Shaw has moved into tenth in Indians single season history in most times used out of the bullpen. This is familiar territory for him as he already owns the team record and the #20 spot.
Feathers Down
Kluber continues to struggle since returning from injury earlier this month. He has pitched poorly in all three starts since having some problems with his hamstring. After two quick outs in the first inning today, Kluber allowed two doubles and a two run home run to Trevor Plouffe to place the Indians in an early hole. While he pitched better as the game went on, he still gave up two more doubles, walked three, hit a batter and allowed four total earned runs on seven hits in six innings.
The Indians had trouble stringing together anything today, a problem that has existed all year long and has not truly been fixed by any personnel changes. Tonight, the middle of the lineup was largely at fault with the 3-4-5 hitters going 0/12. The number three hitter, Michael Brantley, hasn’t had a hit since September 20th, missing significant time in that span due to his injured shoulder.
Thanks to increasingly long odds, the score board watch has been discontinued. With the loss, the Indians elimination number has dropped to three. This essentially means that to get a miracle play-off spot, the Indians would have to win their next seven games (the rest of the season) and have the Astros win less than three. Neither of these things are going to happen. Tonight was a must win game and the Indians lost.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 – Minnesota Twins 4
On Deck: The Indians will be back with the Twins tomorrow night at 7:10 PM as Cody Anderson faces off against Kyle Gibson of Minnesota.
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