Player of the Game
Trevor Bauer continues to raise the bar, improving in seemingly every start. This time, he hurled a complete game, his first of the season and second in his career, allowing just one run and striking out ten. Only one Rays batter reached via the walk and he was the only runner to score. Three other batters reached via hit, but were stranded, one eliminated on a double play and two others left on after the run scored in the seventh.
Feathers Up
The Indians got on the board early today, aided by lead-off hitter, Carlos Santana, starting the game with a walk. After Santana walked, Jason Kipnis hit a home run beyond the wall in center bringing two in before an out was recorded. Francisco Lindor then walked and scored on a Jose Ramirez single.
Milestone Alert: Lonnie Chisenhall played in his 500th career game tonight, making him the 104th Indians position player to reach that mark. In celebration, he doubled and scored in the fourth.
The Rays scored their run on one of the weirdest plays you’ll see, but because it could have lead to much more, it falls on the positive side of the ledger. With runners on second and third, Trevor Bauer struck out Desmond Jennings, then induced Corey Dickerson into hitting a ground ball to the left side. Francisco Lindor made an incredible play on the ball, using an all out dive just to stop the grounder from reaching the outfield. While Dickerson was safe at first and the run scored, Lindor threw behind Logan Morrison at third and Juan Uribe tagged his face to end the inning.
Santana had a good night all around as he added an RBI double in his third at bat and an RBI single in his fourth. After the single, Santana stole second (his fourth in 2016), went to third on a fly ball, then scored on another by Lindor for his second run of the game.
With the sweep of the Rays, the Indians also swept the home stand (6-0 against Tampa and Chicago) and, in fact, all the home games in June (add one against Texas and four against Kansas City). It was largely this great play in Cleveland (in many cases in front of large crowds) that pushed them from second place with a 26-24 record at the end of May into first and a 41-30 record today. It certainly hasn’t hurt that the Indians have averaged 5.6 runs per game at home this year and 6.2 runs scored per game at home in June.
Feathers Down
As the starting rotation is finally proving to be what we all thought it was to start the year, the eight man bullpen looks as pointless as ever. Jeff Manship, Zach McAllister and Tom Gorzelanny have all sat out the last six games (seven days) with Tommy Hunter and Joba Chamberlain missing the last four games (five days). It’s beating a dead horse, but with nothing else going wrong, it’s worth pointing out again that this team barely needs a six man pen and the eight man pen is a dead weight dragging down this team when they do need a pinch hitter or some defensive versatility.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 6 – Tampa Bay Rays 1
On Deck: The Indians will be taking tomorrow off and heading on the road after just six at home. The Indians are in the middle of an overall stretch featuring 29 road games out of 42 from June 6th through 24th and will begin the next stretch with three in Detroit. On Friday at 7:10 PM, the expected starters are Danny Salazar and Jordan Zimmermann.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
