Player of the Game
The Indians hit three home runs tonight, two for bonus points, but Francisco Lindor was the only batter with multiple extra base hits in the game. He had three in total after doubles in his first two at bats, then a two run homer in his fourth to push
Feathers Up
Ian Kennedy nearly shut down the Indians offense completely tonight with only one run allowed during the first five innings, but Mike Napoli continued his hot streak in the sixth with a solo home run to left. This was his fourth game in a row with an RBI and since May 27th he has five home runs, 11 RBI and ten runs scored, improving his average from .220 to .238.
Besides the home run, it was all about manufacturing runs for the Indians and it all started with Lonnie Chisenhall. The Indians right fielder singled with one out in the second, went to second on a Rajai Davis single, third on a Tyler Naquin walk and scored the Indians first run on a Chris Gimenez sacrifice fly. He scored the third run of the game as well when he doubled in the sixth and came home on a two out single from Davis with a great slide into home. Naquin then made the small ball moot as he blasted his second career home run with Davis still on first to push the lead to 5-0.
Not only has the Indians won four games in a row to get back into first place, but the offense has been very consistent over that spell. After averaging 4.3 runs per game in April and 5.1 in May, they have improved that to 5.8 during the first four games in June. Most impressively, they’ve done that against the Rangers and Royals, two of the top teams in the AL.
Feathers Down
There was a rain delay before the game of about a half an hour and combined with the already scheduled late start, the game didn’t end until about 10:35. Really, it’s grasping at straws to find anything negative in this series so far, let alone this game.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 7 – Kansas City Royals 1
On Deck: The Indians and Royals will wrap up their four game set with the Tribe looking for the series win/sweep. It will be the normal Sunday day start beginning at 1:10 PM with Corey Kluber going for Cleveland against Chris Young.
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