Player of the Game
Michael Brantley win his first Player of the Game of the season, with a score of 5.35. Brantley was a key to the offense today, with a single, a double, 3 RBI, and a run scored. The second place candidate for player of the game followed Brantley in the line-up today. Casey Kotchman contended with a score of 4.85, consisting of a double, a run, and 3 RBI. With the bottom of this line-up producing, the 1st place Indians are nearly unstoppable.
Feathers Up
The Indians started their offensive tear in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Travis Hafner led off the inning with a no-doubt-about-it, solo bomb over the right field wall. Philip Humber faced 8 Indians batters in the 2nd, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits.
The productive offense continued in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Indians hitters knocked Humber out of the game after just 2.1 innings pitched. The 3rd inning included a bases loaded double by Michael Brantley, scoring Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana, and another 2-run double by Casey Kotchman, scoring Shin-Soo Choo and Michael Brantley. The Indians batted around in the 3rd, scoring 5 runs on 4 hits, and walking 3 times.
Travis Hafner showed off his speed today when he legged out a triple off the center field wall.
Zach McAllister had a great outing today. McAllister only gave up 2 earned runs in 6 innings pitched. The White Sox were only able to get 6 hits off of him and they struck out 5 times. McAllister had great control, only walking one batter.
Feathers Down
Two of the White Sox runs were unearned. Zack McAllister had a throwing error on a pick-off attempt to second base and Carlos Santana had a throwing error while trying to gun down a base stealer. The Indians defense has been solid all season, and luckily, these unearned runs did not lose the game for the Indians.
Reliever Jairo Asencio pitched 2 solid innings in the 7th and the 8th, facing the minimum 6 batters. However, he came back out in the 9th and gave up 2 runs without recording a single out. He probably should not have pitched the 9 inning at all, but nonetheless, this allowed Nick Hagadone to come in for the save.
Play of the Game
Travis Hafner kick starts the Indians offense with a home run in the 2nd inning
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 8 – Chicago White Sox 6
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