Player of the Game
Corey Kluber didn’t get a decision tonight, but he deserved one as he continued the run of great outings by the Indians top three starters. In eight innings, Kluber threw 96 pitches (67 strikes), struck out eight and allowed just two runs on eight hits. As has been the case after each of his starts, Kluber now leads the league with 25 strike outs (tied with Max Scherzer for the MLB lead) going along with an excellent 2.49 ERA. Showing the dominance of those three starters, they have combined for five of the first eight Player of the Game awards of the season with Kluber taking his second tonight with a score of 6.35, his best of the year.
Feathers Up
It took a little while for the offense to get started again tonight, but a little small ball can go a long way. Roberto Perez started off the fifth with an infield single that split the infielders on the left side. Finding speed where there is little, Terry Francona hit and ran with Jose Ramirez, who fought off a pitch into the vacated hole where Danny Santana would normally have been standing. Perez made it to third on that play, then came home on a Mike Pelfrey wild pitch for the first run of the game. In other slow and steady news, Carlos Santana stole a base earlier in the game.
The following inning, the Indians brought out the power as Brandon Moss hit his first home run as an Indian and the first by any Indian in six games. The solo shot came against reliever Tim Stauffer on a first pitch fastball and Moss went the other way with it, knocking it out to left. This could be the beginning of a turn around for Moss, who batted just .100 coming into tonight, but walked four times in 11 plate appearances coming into the home run at bat.
Feathers Down
In what seems to be an almost nightly occurrence, Corey Kluber flirted with a perfect game, not allowing a base runner until the sixth inning, but a series of unfortunate events took away that, the no hitter and the shut out all at once. Oswaldo Arcia lead off the sixth with a single to right, followed by a single from Chris Herrmann and two fielder’s choices to load the bases with none out. A wild pitch allowed Arcia to reach second and he scored on the Herrmann single due to a terrible throw by Moss. The first fielder’s choice was hit to Ramirez who went to third for a tag out that wasn’t applied in time and the second was hit back to Kluber, who attempted to get an out at home, only there was no one trying to score. A wild pitch on a strike out scored the Twins second run, tying the game and moving runners to second and third. An intentional walk to Joe Mauer and a double play off the bat of Brian Dozier ended the threat, but the thoughtless defense still cost the Indians the lead.
The game stayed tied until the bottom of the 11th inning when Trevor Plouffe hit a three run walk-off home run off Bryan Shaw. The Indians had runners on the ninth, tenth and 11th, but were unable to put anything across and the Twins were similarly held back in the 10th when they loaded the bases, but couldn’t score. In that inning, it was Shaw who struck out Kennys Vargas to end the threat, but after getting down 3-1 to Plouffe, he served up a perfect cutter that was a no doubter into the stands in left.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 – Minnesota Twins 3
On Deck: The Twins and Indians will continue the rivalry tomorrow at 2:10 EST with Danny Salazar making his 2015 debut. Initially, this was simply to move Carlos Carrasco back a day in the rotation, but Salazar will be semi-permanently taking over for Zach McAllister, who has been moved to the bullpen, as well. Twins ace Phil Hughes will take the mound for Minnesota.
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