Player of the Game
On a night filled with offense, Jose Ramirez stood out from the pack as he continues to have a breakout year. He ended the night going 3-5 with a home run, two RBI’s and three stolen bases. The diminutive Dominican extended his hitting streak to 16 games, while also raising his season batting average to .313, good for best on the team.
Feathers Up
The Indians have been praised for the baselining ability all season both for their speed and their instincts, and that ability was on full display Friday evening. The Angels’ starting pitcher Tyler Skaggs used a high leg kick from the stretch, and the Indians took full advantage by stealing seven bases off Skaggs, and later tied their franchise record of steals in a game with a steal off of Deolis Guerra.
After a dominant season last year, many thought Jason Kipnis was due to regress in 2016. However, he has enjoyed another outstanding season, and his success against left-handed pitchers is a reason why. That trend continued Friday, as Kipnis collected two hits against Tyler Skaggs. For his career, Kipnis has only posted an 89 wRC+ vs. LHP, but this year has been much better with a 111 wRC+ against southpaws.
When the Indians acquired Brandon Guyer at the trade deadline, it was a relatively under the radar move, but he has been everything the Indians could have hoped for. Facing a left-hander Friday, Guyer went 3-5 with a home run and five RBI’s, and has now gone an impressive 7-13 with Cleveland.
Feathers Down
In a nearly flawless game by Cleveland, perhaps the only real negative was Carlos Carrasco‘s tough start. In the first inning, Carrasco struggled mightily with locating his fastball, which resulted in a home run by Cole Calhoun and another run off an Albert Pujols single, although aided by a poor call by an umpire that turned a Mike Trout foul ball into a double. However, despite Carrasco’s rough start, he quickly found his groove and held the Angels to three earned runs in seven innings, while striking out eight and walking none.
Milestone Alert: With more than a month and a half left in the season, Mike Napoli has already struck out 147 times, surpassing Jhonny Peralta from 2007 and Jim Thome in 1997 for 10th most in a single season in Indians history.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 13 – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 3
On Deck:
The Indians will look to win their third in a row on Saturday, as they send rookie Mike Clevinger (0-1, 6.97 ERA) to the mound to take on the Angels’ Matt Shoemaker (6-12, 4.07 ERA).
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