Roster Update: Prior to tonight’s game, the Indians announced that Jeff Manship would be placed on the 15 day DL with a right wrist injury. This is convenient as Zach McAllister was set to return from the DL himself and he did so today. Manship was easily the weakest member of the bullpen and the most likely to be otherwise DFA’d to make room.
Player of the Game
Carlos Santana scored two of the Tribe’s five tonight including the first of the game with a solo home run. In all, he went 1 for 3 with a walk. There will be more on his night to follow.
Feathers Up
It took until the 7th inning, but eventually the Indians hitters were able to get something started against the ground ball specialist, Kendall Graveman. Marcus Semien returned the favor of an earlier Davis error by allowing the Tribe’s left fielder to reach safely with one out. Tyler Naquin didn’t need any help as he rapped a sharp single to left and, with the runners going on the pitch, Abraham Almonte brought Davis home and pushed Naquin to third with a single to center. A Santana walk loaded the bases and Jason Kipnis brought home the game tying run with a broken bat blooper to left.
The Indians continued with their offensive inning as Almonte scored on a wild pitch and the rest of the runners advanced a base. This was important as Santana was able to score from third on a hard hit line drive to right from the bat of Francisco Lindor that ultimately just added to his league best sacrifice fly total. The Indians had averaged just 2.25 runs per game in their four losses in their last five games, but scored four in the seventh alone and five overall tonight.
Milestone Alert: With his solo home run in the sixth inning, Santana has tied Grady Sizemore for 13th in Indians history with 139 in his career. This came on a night that the Indians all-time leader, Jim Thome (337) was in the house as he is being inducted into the team Hall of Fame this weekend.
It had been since July 15th when Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen both had a decision in the same game, but the duo looked strong as ever tonight with Shaw earning a save for his perfect eighth and Allen a save for his two strike out, two hit ninth. After blowing a save and taking a loss earlier in the month against Kansas City, Shaw has pitched 4.2 scoreless innings in five outings.
Feathers Down
Poor defense cost Trevor Bauer a few extra base runners, pitches, outs and ultimately, a run. The first error came with two outs in the first when Rajai Davis dropped a Josh Reddick line drive, but Bauer was able to eliminate Khris Davis to end the inning immediately after. In the fourth, he wasn’t so lucky. Mike Napoli‘s poor throw allowed Reddick to reach again on an error and he scored from second on a Billy Butler single with two outs for the A’s first run.
Reddick continued to be a problem for the Tribe as he lead off the sixth inning with a home run, increasing the A’s lead to two and he was followed by a solo shot from Khris Davis. The Indians appeared to have something going the previous inning as Jose Ramirez lead off with a single, but three ground balls where the runner was out at second ended the inning. At one point, Rajai Davis reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second, but Tyler Naquin walked and was eliminated at second on a ground out one batter later.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 – Oakland Athletics 3
On Deck: Rookie lefthander (have you ever seen a scarier pair of words?) Dillon Overton will start for Oakland tomorrow as the Tribe takes on the A’s at 7:10 PM in Cleveland. Overton will be making the fourth start of his career and, so far, has allowed an 8.40 ERA in 15 innings. One would expect that number to decrease as he continues to progress in his rookie season and what better team to decrease a lefties ERA than the Indians. Josh Tomlin will be on the mound to allow any home runs the A’s would like to hit.
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