Player of the Game
Every year it seems Lonnie Chisenhall catches fire for a short period and has one particular game where he really shines. Well, that time is now and that game was today as he went 4-4 with two singles, a triple and a two run home run. He knocked in three and scored twice although he was caught out on the bases once. He is now hitting .450 with six RBI, three runs scored and four extra base hits in his last five games.
Feathers Up
The Indians scored two in the fourth thanks to some timely hitting, but they really took off against Justin Verlander in the fifth. Juan Uribe and Tyler Naquin began the inning going back-to-back to eliminate the 2-2 tie, then after two were out, Francisco Lindor singled and scored for the second time of the game on Mike Napoli‘s monster home run to left. Jose Ramirez hit the next pitch to center for a single, then came home himself on Lonnie Chisenhall’s two run home run right over the glove of Mike Aviles in right. All six runs in the inning and eight in the game came off Verlander, who allowed four home runs in an inning for the first time in his career. It was only the third time in Indians history that they hit four home runs in the same inning.
It took awhile, but the Indians are finally getting some payback for the 2013 and 2014 seasons when they lost 26 games to Detroit, a large reason why they didn’t win the division both seasons. Last year, things evened out a little bit with the Indians winning seven of 18, but that is nothing compared to this season. Even in the Tigers 119 loss season in 2003, the Indians only won 12 of 19 games, but this year they have already won the first nine between the two rivals, sweeping two series in Detroit and one in Cleveland. In those nine games, the Indians have outscored the Tigers 60 to 20 and only the first game between the teams this year and the first in this series have been within two runs.
Overall, the Indians have a nine game win streak as well, pushing their record to 44-30 and looking to take a six game lead on the division depending on the results of tonight’s game between Houston and Kansas City. A large part of this recent success has been due to the Indians starting pitching as Josh Tomlin was the fourth Indians pitcher to throw at least eight innings in the last five days, but credit also has to be given to the offense that has scored 6.7 runs per game during the winning streak.
Feathers Down
Josh Tomlin has continued his impressive streak of giving up at least one home run per game, a feat he has accomplished in 12 of 14 starts this year (he’s allowed two twice and three once to make up the difference). Today’s came off the bat of the generally light hitting Mike Aviles, who’s solo shot in the third was his first of the year. He made it one of the special three home run games by later giving up two solo shots, although they both came against a much more legitimate hitter in Victor Martinez.
Yan Gomes was all about ruining the Indians fun, striking out in his first three at bats to start the game. His second strike out ended the fourth with a runner on third and his next K in the fifth ended the Indians chance of hitting five home runs in the same inning. Gomes did make up for it somewhat with an RBI single through a drawn in infield in the eighth.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 9 – Detroit Tigers 3
On Deck: Terry Francona is flipping the rotation thanks to the off-day last Thursday and the Indians will go with Trevor Bauer instead of Corey Kluber tomorrow at 7:10 PM in Atlanta. Bauer will match up with the rookie right hander John Gant who will be making his third career start. Other than keeping Bauer on his regular rest, this flip won’t affect the total number of starts for either pitcher.
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