Player of the Game
Dan Otero has been arguably the Indians most dominant reliever this season, but until this point had yet to win a Player of the Game award. After two perfect innings tonight, however, that is no longer the case. Otero struck out one and turned an incredible double play on a ball hit right back at him to eliminate a runner that had been left on for him. This was Otero’s best appearance of the season and it came after the Nationals had no trouble taking apart the Indians first two pitchers in the game. occasional
Feathers Up
The Indians dropped two in the top of the first thanks to a Juan Uribe error, but came back as soon as possible, tying the game again in the bottom of the inning. Rajai Davis lead off the inning with a four pitch walk off Gio Gonzalez and Jason Kipnis doubled him to third. Gonzalez gift wrapped the first run with a wild pitch that allowed the Indians free base runner to score, then Carlos Santana hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Kipnis with the Tribe’s second run.
After committing 2 errors in the top of the 9th, the Tribe offense picked up the defense, sending Nat’s closer Jonathan Papelbon to the showers. Jose Ramirez led off the inning with a walk. Ramirez would score on a pinch-hit double off the bat of Tyler Naquin. In an attempt to move Naquin to 3rd, Chris Gimenez laid down a sac bunt and advanced to 2nd on a throwing error. Naquin would score the tying run on the play. A bases-loaded single from Frankie Lindor sealed the ballgame for the Indians.
Milestone Alert: Kipnis’ first inning double was his 20th of the season and the 155th in his career. This moved him into the top 50 in Indians history, tied with Buddy Bell. His second double of the night in the 8th put him in sole possession of 50th.
Feathers Down
While Danny Salazar initially settled down after allowing two in the first, retiring seven in a row at one point, he didn’t last long in this game. After his short stretch with none on, Wilson Ramos lead off the fourth with a double, then Anthony Rendon hit a home run that took it’s time on the way out to left. While he finished out that inning without any more runs scoring, he allowed Trea Turner to reach with a single to start the fifth and he was pulled from the game despite throwing just 85 pitches.
The magic of Jeff Manship appears to have finally worn off. He gave up a home run to Wilson Ramos tonight, a double to Jayson Werth and a single to Rendon in the sixth tonight without retiring a batter. Manship has allowed 8 of his 16 runs allowed since July 10th and five of his 11 earned runs since July 18th. In addition, he has allowed six of his last nine inherited runners to score and, while neither these nor the unearned runs count against his ERA, it has still jumped from 2.02 on July 16th to 3.38 today. Zach McAllister is expected to be activated later this week and will likely replace Austin Adams on the roster, but a replacement for Manship should be a top priority for the Indians prior to the July 31st deadline.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 7 – Washington Nationals 6
On Deck: The Indians will end their short two game series tomorrow afternoon at 12:10 PM in Cleveland. It will be a pitching match-up for the ages as Carlos Carrasco pitches against Stephen Strasburg.
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