Player of the Game
You may have thought Josh Tomlin looked good in his last outing, when he pitched five innings and allowed just one run on a solo home run, but he was even better tonight. It took him just 85 pitchers to go 6.2 innings, allowing only four hits. The only runs scored by Detroit came in the sixth when they were lucky enough to string together two of the four hits with two outs in the inning. He finished the game with four strike outs, one walk and a .226 WPA.
Feathers Up
Terry Francona tried something new today by placing Carlos Santana in the lead-off spot as Rajai Davis had the day off against the right handed Justin Verlander. While the move was largely due to Santana’s high walk rate and on base abilities, it paid immediately as Santana worked a full count, then smacked the next pitch over the right field wall on one of the smoothest swings he’s had all season.
After some rocky recent outings, the Indians bullpen was perfect tonight as Zach McAllister, Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen combined for 2.1 innings, three strike outs, two holds and a save. Of these, Allen was the cause of the most worry after throwing 30 pitches last night, but he made quick work of Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez for the one run save.
Feathers Down
It turns out that Verlander is not quite as used up as we had expected. Over his career, the Tigers ace has allowed a 4.43 ERA against Cleveland and that number was 4.50 in 2016 in three starts. Despite this, he was dominant tonight, pitching six innings of shut out ball between allowing the home run to Santana in the first at bat of the game and allowing another solo shot to Marlon Byrd in the seventh. Verlander never lost the ability to pitch, just the ability to control where the pitches go as can be seen by his increased walk rates after he turned 30. Tonight, however, he knew exactly where everything was going as he walked just two and struck out ten, allowing only two hits besides the home runs.
If there was one hitter Verlander really dominated tonight it was Mike Napoli, who struck out in each of his four at bats (three time against Verlander). In his final at bat, Napoli finally got to face a left handed pitcher and was so excited, he swung at eight pitches in the at bat. After taking the second pitch for a ball, he fouled off five in a row until Justin Wilson realized he would swing at just about anything and threw one in the dirt for the K. This came at a pivotal time with runners on first and second and the Indians looking to add to a precarious one run lead. With two outs, Yan Gomes then struck out as well to end the inning.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 – Detroit Tigers 1
On Deck: Corey Kluber will get a chance at redemption after a poor first inning turned into a 6-0 loss last time around. He will face Anibal Sanchez at 1:10 PM Saturday in Detroit.
The Cavaliers also won tonight to move to 3-0 against the Pistons and will also be playing their next game against Detroit, although it will be Sunday night.
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