Roster Update: Nick Hagadone lost the “you still have options left” lottery today as he was sent down for tonight’s starter, Trevor Bauer.
Player of the Game
Trevor Bauer won the Player of the Game (and the game itself) in his second start as an Indian. He finished the game with a POG score of 6.53, making him the first player to beat Ryan Raburn (3.88 points tonight) in the past three games. Bauer pitched five innings, striking out five and allowing just a single hit. He also made a nice play defensively, catching the lead runner out on an attempted sacrifice bunt.
Feathers Up
The Indians again weren’t intimidated by another former Cy Young winner as they tagged former Indian, Cliff Lee, for four runs in his first three innings. They took advantage of some rare Lee mistakes including two walks, each of which later scored.
Trevor Bauer was so much better compared to his last start that he looked like a completely different pitcher. While he did walk the first batter in the game for the second start in a row, he didn’t walk the next three. In fact, he struck out the last two batters to end the inning. He was still a little wild, walking four batters and having many long at bats, but the wildness seemed to help some as the hitters were kept off balance.
Hit Streak Update: Asdrubal Cabrera hit a two RBI double in the third inning to bring his hit streak to ten (was batting .118 coming into the streak). Ryan Raburn has let his Krypton roots show as his modest five game hitting streak now includes going 10 for 12 over the last three games. So he isn’t considered self centered, he knocked in 9 runs over that three game span.
Not only did Mike pick the series exactly opposite as it happened in his series preview, but the Indians outscored the Phillies by a total of 20-2 over the two game series. There is no question that the Phillies are a team on the way down, while the Indians are fastly going the opposite direction.
Feathers Down
The Diamondbacks were right about one thing, Trevor Bauer is quirky. He pitched a one hit shut out tonight, but was only able to make it through the fifth inning as his six walks and five strike outs pushed his pitch count to 93 in just five innings. With a bullpen as strong as the Indians, a five inning shut out should be all they need any day, but if there is one thing he could work on, it would be to limit the walks. He has been living as far as that goes, walking 13 in his first two starts, but somehow, only one of those base runners has scored. That luck will not continue forever.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 6 – Philadelphia Phillies 0
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