Player of the Game
Thanks to a ball boy’s unmoved stool, Brandon Moss wins tonight’s Player of the Game. Moss hit what should have been a single or a tough double down the right field line in fourth, but the ball got caught in the stool and stopped. Preston Tucker had to run all the way in and by the time he did, Carlos Santana had scored and Moss was on third. Moss added another run with an RBI single in the sixth to score Yan Gomes, who had doubled. Moss now leads the team with nine Player of the Game wins, showing that when he does contribute, he contributes more than anyone else.
Feathers Up
During the game, Jason Kipnis was announced to be a reserve for the AL All-Star team. Unfortunately, despite having the numbers two and nine starting pitchers and the numbers three and 15 relief pitchers in the AL according to WAR, he will be the only Indians representative. Of course, this should not take away from the honor as Kipnis will be heading to his second All-Star game next week in Cincinnati.
Milestone Update: Although he went hitless in multiple games during the road trip, Jason Kipnis’ fifth inning single against Dallas Keuchel was moved his home hitting streak to 29 games, second in Indians history to Hal Trosky‘s 31.
While it is hard to take much positive out of the things that actually occurred in this game, scoring three runs in six innings off Keuchel (he allowed just 2.03 runs per 9 IP) is a bit of a feat in itself. In addition, those runs came thanks to extra base hits from Gomes, Moss and Giovanny Urshela, the players who could very well be hitting four, five and six in the near future. With Kipnis and Michael Brantley still regularly getting on, if these three can heat up batting behind them it could be a solution to the Indians run scoring issues.
Feathers Down
Far from perfect, Carlos Carrasco struggled from the first batter of the game, giving up infield singles to each of the first two hitters before the Astros moved on to bigger, better things. For Carrasco’s benefit, Jose Altuve was caught stealing after the first infield hit, but after the second came a walk, a double and a sacrifice fly, bringing home three runs before Carrasco actually recorded an out himself. Another single with two outs would bring home one more as the Indians sat in a 4-0 hole before they came to bat.
After it started it just kept coming. Carrasco only gave up one more, a solo home run to Preston Tucker in the fourth, but was pulled prior to the fifth. Nick Hagadone pitched a perfect fifth, but allowed a single in the sixth before being relieved himself. Austin Adams got through that inning, but not before allowing Hagadone’s and two of his own runs to score with hits from Altuve, Tucker, Evan Gattis and Colby Rasmus.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4 – Houston Astros 9
On Deck: Tomorrow night at 7:10 PM in Cleveland, the Indians will show off their ace and hope he can more than match Keuchel’s effort from tonight. He will pitch against Vincent Velasquez, a rookie starter for the Astros in his sixth career start bringing in a 4.21 ERA.
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