Roster Update: As feared, Danny Salazar had an MRI this morning and, while nothing was structurally wrong, he was placed on the 15 Day DL with elbow soreness. He is expected to miss at least two weeks, but since he has no real diagnosis, there is no way to tell for sure.
His removal from the 25 man roster made it easier to add newly acquired Brandon Guyer to the Major League squad without releasing any other players.
Player of the Game
With three hits including a two run home run, Carlos Santana topped all others with his offensive performance. His 23rd home run of the season is second on the team to Mike Napoli and just four short of his career high of 27 (2011 and 2014)
Feathers Up
Had it not come already down 8, the fifth inning would have been pretty impressive. Abraham Almonte started the Tribe’s first offensive threat of the game with his sixth double out of 11 hits this year, then scored on a two out, two run home run to deep right by Santana. Jason Kipnis singled through the right side of the infield, then stole second without a throw. Francisco Lindor had a more solid single to left that scored Kipnis from second and gave him a hit in each of his first three at bats.
Copying from the Twins, Mike Napoli added another two run home run, pulling an outside pitch to the very top of the bleachers in left. It was his fourth game in a row with a home run and brought the Indians back to within three. Keeping things going with two outs, Jose Ramirez singled to right and Lonnie Chisenhall brought him home with a double to right. This double knocked Twins starter Kyle Gibson from the game before the end of the fifth despite coming into the inning with an 8-0 lead.
Milestone Alert: Tonight was the 100th start of Carlos Carrasco‘s career. This is probably one milestone he doesn’t want a memento to remember it by.
Slightly More Positive Milestone Alert: Chisenhall’s RBI double was his 100th career double.
After Carrasco was pulled from the game in the fourth, the Indians bullpen didn’t allow a run over the next four innings. Dan Otero threw 1.2 innings and allowed one base runner after which Kyle Crockett struck out both the batters he faced looking. Bryan Shaw survived 1.1 innings despite 3 hits and Cody Allen saved him with a double play against his only batter faced. For some reason, Terry Francona then chose Austin Adams to cap off the night and he ruined everything.
Feathers Down
Carrasco started the game throwing the ball as hard as he ever has and shut down the Twins for the first two innings, but in the third the Twins made it look like a repeat of last night. Danny Santana started with a double, then Brian Dozier knocked him in with a home run before Joe Mauer and Max Kepler did the same before the first out was recorded. It was particularly the combination of Mauer and Kepler that troubled the Indians yesterday as Kepler hit three two run home runs in that game before the one today against Carrasco.
Carrasco’s night lasted just 3.2 innings and far too long it was. After the rough third, things got even worse in the fourth as he allowed a double and a single with one out and another double with two down before intentionally walking Kepler. Last year’s Twins rookie sensation, Miguel Sano, made him pay for that with another double, scoring both runs for four in the inning and an 8-0 lead.
On possibly his last day with the team for awhile (or ever if we’re lucky), Austin Adams walked a batter and gave up a two run home run to Eduardo Escobar of all people to increase the Twins lead from two to four. This mistake falls on Terry Francona so much more than Adams, however, as there was no reason to believe that Adams was capable of pitching in a two run game, particularly with Allen having thrown to just one hitter tonight and Andrew Miller just two batters in last night’s game.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 6 – Minnesota Twins 10
On Deck: The Indians have rearranged their rotation with Salazar out and instead of Josh Tomlin going Thursday it will be Mike Clevinger, who is currently in AAA. For tomorrow’s 7:10 PM start time, Trevor Bauer will throw against Tim Duffey of Minnesota.
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