Player of the Game
Player of the game tonight is without a doubt Cleveland Indians OF Rajai Davis, and his aggressive slide into home is what put him there. Bottom of the fourth, Davis and Jose Ramirez both on base, Jason Kipnis hits a single to center field, and the runners take off! Ramirez scores easily, while Davis slides into home, making a jalopy car look smooth, and is called out, but the call is overturned and the aggressiveness pays off. Just in tonight’s game, Davis has reached base each time he’s been to the plate with two hits and two walks. The slide by Rajai wasn’t the only fuel to spark the offense tonight, but it definitely was the biggest stand-out spark in the fire at the plate (Actually, it was his single in the third who lit up the bats).
Feathers Up
The Indians’ bats came alive in a way that feels like this game was the release of all the pent up frustration over the last two series the Indians have played. After going 2-4 in their last six games, the Tribe needed a game to get hot in and they picked this one to do it. Early on the in the game, it seemed like nothing but Reds’ bats were awake, but then the third inning rolled in and a fire was ignited that spanned the entire rest of the game.
In the bottom of the third inning, Rajai Davis singled, Francisco Lindor doubled and Mike Napoli singled, giving the Indians life in the game for the first time, making it tie ballgame!
Fast forward to the fourth inning, The Slide by Davis became a thing, giving the Tribe another two runs, Napoli gets another single, scoring Kipnis, putting the Tribe up 7-4 lead.
With the Reds trying to fight back, they put up another two runs, the last runs they would put in the game, and the Indians continued to get lit and completely demolish the ball club from the south.
In the bottom of the sixth, a “Cleveland Grand Slam” was accomplished, by a Yan Gomes three run homer, and just following, a Marlon Byrd two run bomb, extending the Tribe lead over the Reds 12-6. But were they finished? Hell no.
The seventh comes around, and with two sac-flies from Carlos Santana and Gomes, Napoli and Lindor score the 13th and 14th runs of the game!
Bottom of the eighth, and recent call up Michael Martinez, who also had a phenomenal catch at 2B in the 9th, got his first double of the season, scoring Byrd and the 15th run for Cleveland.
There’s no doubt that seeing games like this, after a rough first few innings, feels amazing for both the team and the fans, and like the Davis single in the in the 3rd inning, we can all hope this will ignite them going forward in this Ohio Cup series.
Feathers Down
Cody Anderson continued his struggle on the mound, giving up nine hits, four earned runs, two walks and only went 4.1 innings. It was my hope after seeing him get locked in in Houston during the 16-inning game last Wednesday, that maybe he found his stride again. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be the case, as his ERA increases to a 7.99 with a 1.66 WHIP after tonight’s show down against the Cincinnati Reds.
Out of the gate the Reds jumped on Anderson, with a double by Brandon Phillips in the first, a homer by Adam Duval in the second, and a homer by Eugenio Suarez in the third, giving the Reds a comfortable 4-0 lead.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 15 – Cincinnati Reds 6
On Deck:
After a hot win for Cleveland, the two Ohio ball clubs will play again with Danny Salazar (3-1) and Cincinnati Reds’ Alfredo Simon (1-3) on the mound at 6:10 at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario.
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