Player of the Game
Danny Salazar had a little trouble with control tonight, but no matter where he threw it, he was nearly unhittable. Through eight innings he allowed just three hits (one a solo home run to Drew Butera) while walking five (one intentional) and striking out nine. In addition, one base runner was out on a double play and another thrown out at second by Lonnie Chisenhall while trying for a double, so he rarely faced a truly dangerous situation. Salazar threw 113 pitches and was strong up to the end, striking out two in the eighth and throwing his fastball at 97 MPH.
Feathers Up
The Indians offense started the game off strong with two consecutive walks to Carlos Santana and Jason Kipnis. While they wouldn’t score that inning, the lengthy at bats would continue and Royals’ starter Edinson Volquez was pushed to 100 pitches in the 6th inning. While it’s not like the Indians would prefer to face the Royals bullpen than Volquez, it should help them in the next two games to make sure the bullpen is used as much as possible early on.
Yan Gomes‘ solo home run put one on the board in the second, but the Indians entire line-up got into the action in the third against Volquez, who facing the line-up for the second time. With one out, Kipnis doubled, then scored on a Francisco Lindor single. Lindor came home next on a Mike Napoli double and, after a Jose Ramirez single, Napoli came home on a wild pitch.
Whatever reason the Indians had for sending Tyler Naquin to AAA last time despite a desperate need for outfielders at the Major League level appears to have disappeared. Since coming back this time he has hit safely in two of seven at bats with two RBI and tonight he hit his first Major League home run in the seventh inning off Volquez.
Feathers Down
The Indians are still a half game behind the Royals and will need to sweep the series to finish in first place. Of course, the season doesn’t end after this series, so this is entirely unimportant.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 6 – Kansas City Royals 1
On Deck: Game three of four between KC and Cleveland will take place tomorrow night at 7:15 PM. The veteran Ian Kennedy will pitch for the Royals with Josh Tomlin going for the Tribe.
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