Player of the Game
The Indians starting pitchers have been truly incredible this series and Carlos Carrasco was the best so far. He neared etching his name in the history books with a perfect game through the first 6.1 innings and a no hitter through 8.2. Each of the Indians starters this series has pitched at least five perfect innings, but Carrasco was the first to add an impressive strike out total, 13 to be exact, his new career high. In the end, only four batters reached base against Carrasco, two walks a hit batter and a single and one of these was erased with an impressive double play started by Carlos Santana. In a season full of great starts by Indians pitchers, this was the best.
Feathers Up
After being shut out in the double header Sunday, the Indians have put runs on the board early in each of the first three games against Tampa. Today, it was David Murphy who started things off in the second with a single to right, followed by a Carlos Santana walk to set things up. Brandon Moss then doubled down the line to bring home both with the aid of a Steven Souza bobble in right for the first runs of the game.
The Indians added on another two in the second and Murphy was involved again. Jason Kipnis, Mike Aviles and Michael Brantley all singled to begin the inning with Kipnis coming home on the Brantley hit to right. Thanks to an overthrow by Souza, both Brantley and Aviles were able to move up and Aviles eventually scored on a one out, Murphy sacrifice fly, pushing the score to 4-0.
As if Carrasco needed any more runs, the Tribe put together another rally in the eight when Ryan Raburn walked as a pinch hitter, was moved to third with a Santana ground rule double and brought home, along with Santana and Moss, by a three run Brandon Moss home run to center. This gave the Indians an eight run lead and more runs in each game this series than they scored in the entire series against Baltimore combined.
Feathers Down
Carlos Carrasco walked Joey Butler on eight pitches in the seventh to lose his bid at a perfect game. Carrasco did appear to be slightly tired at this point and had some trouble hitting his spots, likely due to the fact that he went deep in multiple counts on the night leading to 124 total pitches.
Carrasco was obviously winded by the ninth inning and, while he still pitched well, things didn’t go as well as hoped. He walked Asdrubal Cabrera, hit Brandon Guyer, then got Grady Sizemore to hit into a fielder’s choice to put runners on first and third. With two strikes and two outs in the ninth of his no hitter, Butler ruined another chance at perfection with a line drive single to right. This ended the no hitter, the shut out and the complete game as Austin Adams was brought in to get the final out of the game.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 8 – Tampa Bay Rays 1
On Deck: Finishing up the four game series, the Indians will look for a sweep and another perfect game attempt behind Corey Kluber. For the Rays, Matt Moore will make his first appearance in the Major Leagues since he had Tommy John surgery after just two starts in the 2014 season. In his most recent trip to Durham (the Rays AAA affiliate), Moore held opponents to just a 4.35 ERA in two starts, a far cry from his first time there in 2011 (1.37 ERA in nine starts) when he was baseball’s number one prospect. Ready or not, the Rays will look to him to stop the yo-yoing Indians.
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