Player of the Game
Jose Ramirez posted a .167 WPA and is today’s “Player of the Game.”
Feathers Up
The Indians offense continues to make pitchers “labor.” Although Tigers starter Shane Greene allowed two singles in the 1st inning and threw 26 pitches, the offense could not score.
The Indians broke the 0-0 tie in the top of the 4th inning with a couple of key base hits. It started when Tigers starter Shane Greene left the game after walking Fransisco Lindor with severe blisters on his right fingers. Righty Drew VerHagen came on in relief and the offense immediately pounced. After retiring Mike Napoli for the first out, Jose Ramirez doubled to send Lindor to third and Marlon Byrd singled both of them home to make it 2-0. Tyler Naquin, the birthday boy, had his first extra-base hit of his Major League career as he tripled into the right-center field gap effectively scoring Byrd, making the score 3-0 at the time. It was a strong inning especially it being immediately after Carlos Carrasco left with a left-hamstring injury. More on the injury below.
The Indians offense continued to impress in the top of the 5th as they surpassed the 10 hit mark for the second consecutive game. They scored three more runs to make the score 6-2 at the time. Ramirez, Byrd and Juan Uribe each had an RBI and a single
Trevor Bauer came on in long-relief after Carrasco’s injury. Prior to today’s outing, he worked 2.0IP in three of his first five outings and at least 1.0 IP in all five games. Over his last 5 games, he has logged: 10.1 IP, 11 hits, 4 earned runs, 4 walks and 12 strikouts… Over this span, he is averaging 11.3 strikeouts in 9.0IP in relief.
Lindor was 3-4 with 3 singles and 2 runs scored on the afternoon. This made him 5-10 with 4 runs scored for the series. He now owns a 3 game hitting streak.
Feathers Down
The biggest blow of the game came in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Andrew Romine hit a groundball to first-baseman Mike Napoli. Carrasco came off the mound to cover first-base to take the throw from Napoli. On his second step away from the bag, his left leg came up gingerly. Although he held on to the ball to record the out, he immediately fell to the ground in extreme pain grabbing the area around his left knee. He was on the ground for several minutes and finally had to be helped off the field by the Indians two trainers. The club said that Carrasco left the game with a “left hamstring injury.” The severity of the injury was not immediately known.
Up till this afternoon, Carlos Carrasco had struck out 5-or-more batters in 21 straight games dating back to June 13th of last season. It was the second-longest active streak in the majors behind Clayton Kershaw (60) and is now the second-longest such streak in Indians history behind Bob Feller’s record of 28 consecutive games (September 9, 1945-July 20, 1946). Carrasco had gone 9-7 with a 2.89 ERA (47ER/136IP) in that span, limiting batters to a .211 clip (102-for-483). The Indians had gone 13-8 over that 21 game stretch outscored their opponents 92-81 in those games.
Bryan Shaw continues to struggle as he loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth and gave Miguel Cabrera a chance to have the Tigers take the lead as the go-ahead run. It was his 4th hold this year (1 blown save.)
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 6 – Detroit Tigers 3
On Deck: Danny Salazar will get the start tomorrow as the Indians open a three-game series against the Twins at Target Field.
The 26-year-old right-hander is scheduled to make his fourth start of the season and will mark the 64th game & start of his career. He will be pitching on regular four days rest after making his last start April 20 against the Seattle Mariers at Progressive Field as he was dealt his first loss of the season after allowing two runs on three hits with seven strikeouts in 7.0 innings of work.
Salazar is scheduled to make his eighth career start/appearance against the Twins as he is 3-2 with a 3.38 ERA (15ER/40.0IP) in his previous seven starts against them.
The Indians have won five of the seven games against Minnesota in which Salazar has started.
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