Player of the Game
As we have come to expect, the Indians got another masterful pitching performance from Danny Salazar tonight. He allowed just one run on four hits through 7.1 innings and never got in trouble until the seventh. Then, he snuck out of a one out situation with runners on second and third by inducing a pop out to himself and a strike out of Chris Young. This was his eighth and final strike out of the night as he would pitch to just three batters in the eighth, walking two.
Feathers Up
Some slap hitting and good base running accounted for individual Tribe runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to tie the game and give Cleveland the lead. Roberto Perez and Mike Aviles singled to start the fifth, then moved up on a Jose Ramirez bunt. Francisco Lindor then singled home one, but a Chris Johnson double play ended the rally. Carlos Santana and Jerry Sands began the sixth in similar fashion, although Giovanny Urshela was only able to advance one runner with a ground out to short. This time it was an Abraham Almonte single that brought Santana home, his fifth RBI in four games since joining the club.
CC Sabathia never gave in tonight, but it was obvious the old horse isn’t quite what he used to be. This was a pretty interesting match-up as the super heavyweight, who was the Indians star fire baller over a decade ago, faced off the current incarnation from the other side tonight. As often happens, youth won out with Salazar lasting longer (7.1 compared to 6 IP), striking out more (8 to 2) and giving up fewer total hits (4 to 9).
Milestone Update: What’s good for one is good for the other, so we should note that Danny Salazar reached 150 strike outs one day after Carlos Carrasco completed the feat. With eight in the game, he finished with 151, tied for 77th in a single season in Indians history with a most of two months remaining.
Cody Allen relieved Salazar in the eight looking for the first five out save this season in a one run affair with two runners on. Facing Alex Rodriguez, Allen worked a six pitch at bat, throwing just one ball before getting the active career home run leader to ground into an easy, inning ending double play to Lindor. Allen finished the ninth with similar ease, striking out three (one reaching on a wild pitch) for his 23rd save of the season.
Feathers Down
As they did yesterday, the Yankees got on the board early with another home run to right field. The team that was built to take advantage of the extremely short wall in Yankee Stadium has been able to take advantage of a similar situation in Cleveland. Today it was Brian McCann with a solo shot in the second inning taking Salazar deep.
Johnson got a tremendous start with the team by going 7/8 over his first two starts with the Tribe, but some of that luck ran out tonight as he missed out on two great run scoring opportunities. In the third, Perez and Lindor walked around a Ramirez single, but with one out, Johnson grounded to Chase Headley at first for the around-the-horn, inning ending double play. With another runner at third in the fifth (this time Aviles) and Lindor again at first, Johnson grounded into a second inning ending double play to end the threat.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 – New York Yankees 1
On Deck: The Indians and Yankees will wrap up their first three game series of the season tomorrow night at 7:10 PM in Cleveland. Trevor Bauer will face off against Nathan Eovaldi.
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