Player of the Game
Asdrubal Cabrera has disappointed much of the season, but he was unbelievable today, going 4-5 with two runs scored and 3 RBI. Cabrera blasted one of the Indians two home runs and added two doubles and a single as well. He should have been credited for a triple, which would have given him the cycle, in his final at bat, but the official scorer said he went to third on the throw to the plate.
Feathers Up
The Twins had problems even before the game started with Sam Fuld getting placed on the 7 Day DL and his replacement being to far away to make it to the game in time. With Joe Mauer already on the roster, but unable to play, this left the Twins with a one man bench going into the game. In addition, without Fuld in the outfield, the Twins were forced to use Eduardo Escobar (the short stop from game one) in center field. Escobar didn’t look comfortable playing left field last night, so it is hard to imagine the Twins are very comfortable with him in center.
Michael Brantley extended his hitting streak to eight games in his first at bat today, something he has done quite often, reaching safely in his first at bat in five of eight games. He now has hit streaks of five, six and eight games through the Indians first 35 games. Today, it was his double in the first that lead to the first run of the game when David Murphy doubled him home. On the play, Carlos Santana was called out at home in a very questionable play, but it was not challenged. With a single in his second at bat as well, Brantley now has reached base at least twice in four games during his eight game hitting streak.
Justin Masterson wasn’t quite as good as his last time around, but he was still pretty effective, allowing just two hits and no earned runs going into the seventh. He did allow three base runners and a run, while recording just one out, but his final line of 6.1 IP, 4R/2ER, 7K was still impressive.
Offense was the word of the day as the Indians kept adding on throughout the game, scoring in five different innings and coming from some unexpected places. In addition to Cabrera and Brantley’s great day, quite a few other players joined in during the onslaught. Ryan Raburn came through with a surprise RBI single after coming into the game just batting just .167. Not to be overlooked, David Murphy and last night’s hero, Mike Aviles each added two doubles to the mix. Even Michael Bourn added a sacrifice fly after missing the last four games with a hamstring injury.
Feathers Down
Masterson hurt himself in the sixth, giving up two unearned runs after committing an error. After the error, Masterson only made things worse, walking Brian Dozier and throwing a wild pitch to move the runners to second and third. After two outs, both runs scored on an infield single to short stop when Asdrubal Cabrera misplayed a ball, then didn’t pick it up in time to catch the second runner. These were the only runs allowed by Masterson all game.
Lonnie Chisenhall took a tough 0-3 today, that had little to do with his actual performance. After starting 0-2, Chisenhall reached base on catcher’s interference and scored, but didn’t get credit for the at bat. Later, he hit what looked to be a solid single to center, but Ryan Raburn was unable to get to second in time and it went down as a fielder’s choice. Chisenhall scored that time as well.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 9 – Minnesota Twins 4
On Deck: The Indians will head straight down to the Trop for the first of three games with the Tampa Bay Rays. Corey Kluber and Jake Odorizzi will be featured in the opener at 7:10 PM Eastern.
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