Roster Moves: The Indians made a slew of moves today and likely have more coming down the pipe. This afternoon, Jason Giambi, Justin Sellers and tonight’s starter, Trevor Bauer all returned to the Indians after being on the DL (Giambi) and spending time in AAA (Sellers and Bauer). To make room, Jesus Aguilar, Jose Ramirez and T.J. House were sent down. All three rookies were promoted recently and none received enough playing time to really make a Major League evaluation. All three will likely return later in the season as further moves are deemed necessary.
Player of the Game
This win really was another team effort, with every batter reaching base at least once and Bauer providing an excellent start, but Mike Aviles was the most productive player, knocking in two and scoring once. All this happened at once in the second inning as he hit a two run double, then scored on a Michael Bourn single. Bourn himself was the team’s second best player, posting a 3.39 POG score compared to Aviles’ 3.52.
Feathers Up
Finally given the chance he has deserved all season, Lonnie Chisenhall came through in the first inning with the Indians third consecutive single, bringing home the Tribe’s first run. Despite batting a team high .371 coming into the game, Chisenhall has been routinely stuck in the bottom of the lineup, keeping him out of most RBI situations. This hit showed that he can come through, if given the chance, knocking in his fifth run of the season.
The Indians continued adding on against the former triple crown winner, Justin Verlander, in the second inning. Nick Swisher doubled and Yan Gomes walked before Mike Aviles brought them both home with a double of his own. Michael Bourn added another double to score Aviles as well. After Bourn stole third, Asdrubal Cabrera hit his second single in two innings to score another run. Carlos Santana had started the inning off with a single and was thrown out trying to go to second, otherwise the Indians would have scored five runs in the second before an out was recorded.
Trevor Bauer made just his second start this season and was almost as brilliant as his last time out. He threw six innings, allowing just two runs, both on solo home runs, and striking out five. Bauer has always struggled with control, but he walked just one batter prior to the sixth inning, when he was starting to tire near the 90 pitch mark. Bauer still got out of the sixth without a run scoring as he induced a double play that was initially called a fielder’s choice, but was changed after being challenged by Terry Francona.
A rare occasion, the Indians played solid defense tonight, putting together their second straight errorless game. Michael Brantley and Lonnie Chisenhall made great plays to keep Tigers off the bases and Bauer induced two double plays, including a nice unassisted play by Nick Swisher. Any team needs to play spotless defense to hang with the Tigers and the Indians have done so and won in the first two games of this series.
Feathers Down
One of the heroes of last night’s game, Jesus Aguilar, who knocked in two runs, without either of which the Indians would not have won the game, was sent back to AAA today to make room for Giambi. While Giambi was busy going 0-8 in Akron, Aguilar was batting .298 with seven home runs for Columbus and while Giambi was on the DL, Aguilar had his first Major League hit. Giambi is yet to hit safely at any level this year, including Spring Training and has little to no future value to the Indians while Aguilar is the greatest power threat in the entire minor league system.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 6 – Detroit Tigers 2
On Deck: Get ready for a quick turn around as Max Scherzer and Zach McAllister will battle at 12:05 PM in Cleveland, tomorrow as the Indians look for a sweep of Detroit.
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