Roster Update: Yesterday, the Indians announced that Erik Gonzalez would be joining the 25 man roster for the first time in his career. You can read more about that here. To make room, T.J. House was sent back to AAA Columbus.
Player of the Game
Technically, Mike Napoli reached base in each of his four at bats tonight although once he was thrown out at second on a single and once he was safe on an error. He was also involved in almost all of the Indians scoring coming home with three of the Indians runs scored including once when he scored himself with a solo home run in the eighth.
Feathers Up
Forget hitting streaks, Ramirez now has a three game RBI streak after two singles knocked in two more for the super utility man. His first in the fourth knocked in the Tribe’s first run of the game, then his next in the sixth gave the Indians the lead. While there was once a time when people clammored for Ramirez to play every day, he has played in every game since June 15th an has been particularly productive since June 19th with 18 of his 40 RBI this season coming since then.
Carlos Carrasco had a lot of bad luck/bad defense in his last start before the break, but tonight he had a well rested defense behind him and it showed. He allowed just two runs in 6.2 innings, one on a wild pitch and another on a solo home run by Brian Dozier. He was not as dominant as he can be, striking out only three, but he allowed only three hits besides the home run, two singles and a double.
Jeff Manship, Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen finished the final 2.1 innings for the Tribe without allowing a hit. This extends a long period of excellence for Shaw, who has allowed runs in just six of his last 38 appearances, and Allen, who has allowed just four runs in his last 27 games.
Feathers Down
Mike Napoli tried to start the Indians off with some excitement tonight, but perhaps was a bit too exuberant. On his single to start the second inning he tried to continue onto second, but was thrown out by a considerable distance. His hustle did help later on in the fourth as he was safe on a throwing error and went to second on the overthrow. Both he and Francisco Lindor, who was on with a walk, scored on a hit from Jose Ramirez and fielder’s choice from Lonnie Chisenhall.
Yan Gomes continues to be the bringer of bad luck as he went 0 for 4 tonight extending his current drought to 0 for 25 during which he’s reached just one with a walk. His poor luck was evident tonight more than ever as in each of his four at bats he made contact that could have been a hit, but wasn’t thanks to good defense from a team known for their bad defense. The worse of these was in the fourth when he ended a rally with a double play. He lined the ball hard between first and second, but the sage first baseman Joe Mauer made a full body extension dive to grab the ball in the air, then ran to first to double off Chisenhall.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 – Minnesota Twins 2
On Deck: The second game of the second half (and this series in Minnesota) will feature Trevor Bauer and Tyler Duffey and begin at 7:10 PM Eastern.
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