As dominant as the Indians pitching staff has been this post-season, the Blue Jays were just as good today, particularly their bullpen who kept the Indians hitless over the final three innings. Corey Kluber pitched well, but was only able to go five innings while the Tribe bullpen looked beatable for the first time this October.
First Inning
Carlos Santana worked the count in the first at bat of the game, taking a couple pitches to bring the count to full before swinging at a breaking pitch low and out of the zone for the first out. Jason Kipnis followed him, striking out swinging on another breaking pitch in the dirt for Aaron Sanchez‘s second K. Francisco Lindor did a good job working the count as well with a few foul balls on difficult pitches, but grounded out weekly to second to end the inning.
Jose Bautista lead off for the Blue Jays and he battled as well before grounded out to second. Josh Donaldson popped out to the catcher, but Edwin Encarnacion hit a 3-2 pitch the opposite way through the hole in the shift where the second baseman would generally be. Corey Kluber was able to limit the damage to one single as Troy Tulowitzki grounded out to Jose Ramirez, who threw to second to finish the inning.
Second Inning
Mike Napoli continued his good at bats from game three with a walk in his first plate appearances and Ramirez made sure that the Indians had the better base runner on by hitting into a fielder’s choice to second. After Lonnie Chisenhall struck out swinging, Coco Crisp hit another fielder’s choice, this one to short, to end the inning.
Kluber began the second with his first strike out of the game, getting Russell Martin swinging on a high slider. Coming into the game, Martin was just 2 for 27 in the post-season with 12 strike outs to just two walks. Michael Saunders has had no such struggles overall or against Kluber in particular and he singled off a low outside breaking ball for his third hit in two games against the Indians ace. He would be out at second as Ezequiel Carrera hit a fielder’s choice to Kipnis and Kevin Pillar ended the inning with an infield fly in foul territory to Napoli.
Third Inning
Tyler Naquin doubled to lead off the third, his second in consecutive at bats going back to game three after going 1 for 10 previously in the post-season with 7 K’s. Roberto Perez bunted him to third for the first out of the inning, then with the infield in, Santana grounded out sharply to second for the second. With two outs, the infield was able to move back and Kipnis also grounded out to second, stranding Naquin on third.
Ryan Goins was another quick strike out victim for Kluber as he went down swinging to start the third, then continued to pound the zone with a swinging strike out of Bautista on a low, outside curve. Kluber got ahead of Donaldson as well on a swing and miss on a low slider, but left a curve up in the zone and the 2015 MVP took advantage. Donaldson hit a home run well out to left center and gave the Blue Jays their first lead (1-0) of the series and put the Indians behind for the first time in 53 innings. Encarnacion also took Kluber deep to the outfield, but Chisenhall was able to make a jumping catch at the wall to end the inning.
Fourth Inning
After giving up the first run of the game, the Tribe went down in a hurry in the top half of the fourth. Lindor grounded out on the first pitch, Napoli struck out and Ramirez flew out to right as Sanchez set them down in order.
It was anything but a quick inning for Kluber in the bottom half. Tulowitzki walked on four straight and Martin walked after a lengthy at bat that included a couple extremely close pitches that went for balls. Kluber came back to strike out Saunders on three pitches swinging on outside fast balls. With Kluber back to throwing strikes, Carrera came out swinging and popped one into short left center for a bloop RBI single, scoring Tulowitzki from second. There was some question as to whether Naquin would be able to reach the ball, but Tulo went aggressively and easily beat the throw home by Crisp.
Kluber came right back to strike out Pillar swinging on a curve, low and slow. Goins stuck around for more than three pitches, but he struck out as well, stranding two Jays although their lead had been extended to 2-0.
Fifth Inning
Chisenhall began the fifth trying to go the other way, but was thrown out with a nice play by Donaldson at third. Crisp walked on four pitches, then took second on a dropped third strike with Naquin at the plate. This time, Perez didn’t bunt (there being two outs) and he jacked a monster fly ball off the wall in left to score Crisp from second. Santana would ground out to end the inning and strand Perez.
Despite Mike Clevinger warming up in the fourth, Kluber came back out for the fifth and was himself again. He struck out Donaldson before getting Encarnacion on a looping liner behind second where Kipnis was playing on the shift for his first 1-2-3 inning of the game.
Sixth Inning
The Tribe continued to struggle against Sanchez in the sixth and it may have been their worst overall inning to this point. Kipnis popped out to third in foul territory to start the inning and Napoli hit an infield fly as well to end the inning. Only Lindor had solid contact as he flew out to deep center.
The first man in for game three with 1.1 innings pitches was the first into this game as well as Dan Otero started off the sixth. Tulowitzki gave Otero a rude welcome to the game, nearly hitting one out to right, but the ball glanced hard off the wall and right to Chisenhall so he was held to a single. Martin hit one to third that was a little too slow for a double play, but Tulowitzki was retired at second. Saunders then continued his solid series with a solid single up the middle to put two on with one out. When Carrera lined one to right, Chisenhall made a nice jumping catch at the warning track, his second big play of the inning and third of the game. The final out was significantly easier as Lindor grabbed a grounder off the bat of Pillar and threw to first to end the inning.
Seventh Inning
If Sanchez’s final inning was dominant, Brett Cecil‘s first was even more so. The left hander essentially came in to match-up against the second hitter, Chisenhall, but got Ramirez to fly out, then struck out the pinch hitter Rajai Davis and Crisp to put the Indians down in order.
As often as Bryan Shaw has been a shut down reliever, everyone is extremely aware of those rare outings where it all gets away. Today’s was about as bad as it could have been given Terry Francona‘s short leash. Goins started the inning with a single, then instead of making a nice barehanded play on a Bautista grounder, Shaw threw the ball down the first base line for runners on the corners for the first error by the Indians in the play-offs. After an intentional walk of Donaldson and with the infield in, Encarnacion ripped one up the middle for a two run single.
On the play, Davis threw towards home, but Napoli cut off the ball and threw to third where they caught Bautista for the first out of the inning. That was more than enough for Francona, who finally went to Clevinger, allowing the rookie to make his play-off debut down 4-1 with a runner on second.
Clevinger’s first appearance began inauspiciously with a wild pitch, but after a comebacker from Tulowitzki and a ground out to third by Martin, he had two outs and the end of the inning without allowing his inherited runner to score.
Eighth Inning
With Cecil still in, Francona went to his bench again, pinch hitting Brandon Guyer for Naquin. This prompted a move from John Gibbons, bringing in right hander Jason Grilli. Despite the new pitcher, the results were the same as the Tribe went down 1-2-3 for the third consecutive inning after getting on the board in the fifth. Guyer grounded out to first, Perez flew out to second and Santana popped out to the catcher, Martin, in foul territory.
Clevinger stayed in for the eighth and go Saunders swinging to start the inning on an outside change. Carrera took another change and roped it into the right center field gap. Guyer took a poor route to the ball and wound up chasing it to the wall as Carrera ran all the way to third. While Guyer attempted to make up for it on the next play, an all out dive to right to rob Pillar, Carrera was easily able to wait back and tag to score on the second out of the inning. When Bautista popped out to third to end the inning, the Blue Jays had extended their lead to 5-1.
Ninth Inning
Given that they had just two hits all game, there was little hope the Indians would be able to make up four runs against Toronto closer Roberto Osuna. Kipnis went out swinging, then Lindor grounded out easily to short. Napoli struck out swinging on a ball outside and low to end the game and force a fifth game in the ALCS.
Player of the Game – Roberto Perez, 1 for 2, 2B, RBI, SAC
Final Score: Toronto Blue Jays 5 – Cleveland Indians 1
On Deck: Since Kluber going on short rest didn’t work out, the Indians will be stuck with Ryan Merritt making his second Major League start in game five. He will face Marco Estrada, who the Indians beat 2-0 in game one. The game will start at 4:08 PM again on Wednesday in the Rogers Centre.
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