Player of the Game
In a game of few positives for the Indians, Michael Brantley had a decent game at the plate, going 3-5 with two doubles and three of the Indians four RBI. Carlos Carrasco also had an acceptable day out of the bullpen, allowing a single run on a hit and a walk in 2.2 innings with three strike outs.
Feathers Up
The Indians used an overturned challenge to finally get on the board in the fifth. Michael Bourn appeared to ground into a double play to end the inning, but was eventually called safe, giving the Tribe new life. Asdrubal Cabrera then dropped a blooper down the left field line, moving Bourn to third where Michael Brantley brought him home with a single.
The Indians put on another show with two outs in the ninth, but again, it was too little too late. This time, George Kottaras (in defensively for Yan Gomes) started it off with a two out single, followed by one base hits from Bourn and Cabrera. With one run already in, Brantley added two more RBI with a double smashed to the wall in left-center. Still down by six, Jason Kipnis struck out for the third time in the game, stranding his fifth runner in scoring position to end the game.
Feathers Down
As has been the trend lately, the Indians had plenty of chances to score, but just weren’t able to. Michael Bourn was a big part of this, walking in his first two at bats, the first time prior to a Branley single to give the Indians first and second, the second time after a Yan Gomes single to give the Tribe a the same situation two innings later. Each time, the runners were kept in place as Asdrubal Cabrera, Jason Kipnis and Carlos Santana couldn’t come through when they needed to.
Josh Tomlin looked rough early on, but after allowing a solo home run to Miguel Cabrera in the first, managed to settle down and give up just one more over the next three innings. In the fifth, the ugly came out yet again, with two singles allowed to start the inning, then back-to-back doubles given up to J.D. Martinez and Nick Castellanos. While this should have allowed three earned runs, things were made significantly worse by some poor defense.
In between the singles and doubles in the fifth, the Indians committed two huge errors, allowing the Tigers to exponentially expand their lead. With a runner on third, Jason Kipnis attempted to go to second on a slow ground ball instead of getting the easy out and Asdrubal Cabrera dropped the feed for his 14th error of the season. On the very next play, Michael Bourn had a line drive pop straight out of his glove, turning what could have been a double play into a bases loaded situation. Both these runners ended up scoring, giving the Tigers a couple unearned runs to add to their earned ones. Two more unearned runs scored later in the inning after Kyle Crockett had retired a batter in relief, the Crockett and Axford allowed singles to bring two more home.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4 – Detroit Tigers 10
On Deck: The Indians are off tomorrow before heading to Phoenix for a quick two game series with the Diamondbacks. Both games start at 9:40 pm ET.
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