Player of the Game
Coming into the game, the Boston Red Sox were the best offense in the AL, averaging almost six runs a game. However, Corey Kluber largely shut down Boston on Friday night, and earned the win to improve his record to 3-5. The Red Sox did manage to get two early runs of Kluber, including a solo home run by Jackie Bradley Jr. in the second inning. However, following Bradley’s bomb, the Red Sox went just 2-20 against Kluber. On the night, the 2014 Cy Young winner went seven innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits and two walks, while striking out six.
Feathers Up
Outside of Kluber’s strong performance, on what is becoming a highly occasion, the Tribe got stellar play from Francisco Lindor. The young shortstop made two great defensive plays early in the game, and was no slouch at the dish either, going 2-3 with two walks. He was also a devil on the base paths, stealing second base, forcing a wild throw and advancing to third on the play. Linder would later score at home with a nifty swim-move slide on a Jose Ramirez sacrifice fly.
There were also two milestones reached Friday night: with a hold in the eighth inning, his 67th, Bryan Shaw moved to #4 in Indians’ history, tied with Paul Shuey. Meanwhile, with the win Friday, Terry Francona tied Pat Corrales‘ 280 wins as a manager for 9th in Cleveland history.
After beating the Red Sox, the Indians improved to a season-best five games over .500, and have also won five games in a row.
Feathers Down
After going on an offensive tear which saw him slash .360/.448/.440 between May 13-18, it appears Jose Ramirez is beginning to cool down. He went 0-3 on Friday, which brought his average to .166 in his last four games.
Meanwhile, Carlos Santana doubled to lead off the game against right handed Clay Buchholz, but proved once again to be ineffective against left-handed pitching. After facing lefties Tommy Layne and Robbie Ross Jr. and coming away hitless, Santana is now just 6-38 in 2016 against southpaws. With a career 131 wRC+ as a right-hander facing lefties, hopefully this mark can improve going forward.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4 – Boston Red Sox 2
On Deck:
The Indians will take on Boston in the second game of in the three game series on Saturday at 4:05 EST. Trevor Bauer (3-1, 3.89 ERA) will take the mound for the Indians, and will face Boston’s Joe Kelly (1-0, 9.45 ERA). The Indians will look to clinch the series victory and extend their winning streak to six games.
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