Player of the Game
On Brazil day (read on), Indians back up catcher Yan Gomes has taken home his second Player of the Game in a week. Gomes singled in his first at bat, then walked in a run in his second. In his final at bat, he put the Indians ahead by three with a two run double with two outs in the ninth inning. His final POG score was 4.51 for securing an Indians win.
Feathers Up
Something a little historic happened today, at least as far as international baseball is concerned. Yan Gomes became the first Brazilian born player to make it to the Majors with the Blue Jays last year and he had the honor of batting against the first Brazilian pitcher to make it to the Major Leagues today. Andre Rienzo started for the White Sox (in place of the tradeable Jake Peavy) and pitched well in his Major League debut. In the first meeting between Brazilian natives in Major League Baseball, Gomes took the first pitch right back up the middle for a single. In the pairs' other match-ups Gomes walked on four pitches with the bases loaded and struck out.
The Indians put together a comeback in the fifth inning, despite only recording two hits in that inning. Michael Brantley walked and Carlos Santana was safe on an error to start things off, before Jason Giambi was called out on ball four. Lonnie Chisenhall then singled to load the bases, which were unloaded by Michael Bourn who hit what could have been a double play, but was safe at first. On the play, Bourn stepped on Rienzo's ankle, who was covering first, and Chisenhall scored from second.
For some strange reason, Matt Albers was used for more than two innings tonight, despite ample arms in the bullpen and another one coming in shortly. Despite the irregularity, Albers excelled, allowing just a single and no earned runs over that span.
A few replacements gave the Indians the lead late in the game. Drew Stubbs pinch ran for Santana with Cabrera on third and immediately stole second base. Ryan Raburn came into the game at the same time, pinch hitting for Jason Giambi, and came through with a single up the middle that scored two, giving the Indians a 5-4 lead.
With the win, the Indians move to 10 games above .500, but remain 2.5 games back in the AL Central as the Tigers also won against Washington.
Feathers Down
Another terrible call cost the Indians a run when Gordon Beckham attempted to score from second on a Josh Phegley single to center. Yan Gomes fielded the ball at the plate on the first base side and dove across the plate, where Beckham slid on top of his glove with the ball in it. Beckham never touched the plate, instead rolling over the glove of Gomes. He was called safe, however, making the third bad call in two games against the Indians. The year of the umpires asking for more instant replay continues on.
It had to end at some point and Scott Kazmir's streak of good games has come to an end at seven. In his seven starts prior to tonight he threw 45 innings with a 1.60 ERA, .148 BAA and 35 strike outs. Tonight, he gave up two runs in the first inning and ended up throwing 5+ innings and allowing four runs.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 7 – Chicago White Sox 4
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