Player of the Game
With a double in his first at bat and an RBI single in his final plate appearance before being removed for a pinch runner, Roberto Perez had his first multi-hit game of the season and raised his season average from .050 to .093.
Feathers Up
Alex Rodriguez announced that he will be retiring from baseball on Friday prior to the game and, given that he was held out today, we now know that the Indians will never have to face the 22 year veteran again. Despite never playing in a division with the Tribe, he hit .294/.378/.556 against Cleveland with 33 home runs, 34 doubles and 109 RBI in just 134 games.
In all, Carrasco pitched as well as you could ask, but for the first time in a long time, it was the offense, not the pitching staff, that didn’t come through. Carrasco gave the Indians seven innings, their second start in the month of August that lasted past the fifth, and allowed just three. Cody Allen pitched a perfect eighth, striking out all three faced after sitting out the previous four games. Unfortunately for Carrasco, he was forced to take the loss as the Indians scored just twice after averaging 6.2 runs over the previous nine games.
The Indians started to piece together a come back in the seventh, bringing home their first run on a Rajai Davis double and Roberto Perez’s second hit of the game. In the eighth, it was a less conventional scoring situation as Jose Ramirez walked, stole second and took third on a throwing error from the catcher, Austin Romine. Davis then walked and stole second. On the same pitch, Tyler Naquin swung and missed and the ball got behind Romine, allowing Ramirez to score from third. Naquin would strike out, stranding Davis on second, but they still brought home a run without putting a ball in play all inning.
Feathers Down
For the second game in a row, Carlos Carrasco had a very odd outing. Although it was significantly better than last time around, Carrasco still gave up a couple big hits (particularly a triple in the first and a Curtis Granderson home run in the fourth), but was otherwise seemingly unhittable. In the second, after allowing a single and throwing approximately 3,000 pick off attempts to first, he struck out the side and he did it again in the fourth around the solo home run. This fierce dichotomy continued in the fifth when he struck out two, but walked a batter and allowed a two out double to the wall in left to score him from first.
Mike Napoli has struck out 143 times this year, but his most recent really got to him as multiple borderline pitches were called for strikes against him today. After striking out for the third time in the game in the 8th, Napoli was ejected by home plate umpire Lance Barrett. Napoli wasn’t the only Indians hitter with a rough game as Lonnie Chisenhall also struck out four times and they struck out 12 times as a team.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 – New York Yankees 3
Scoreboard Watch: The Tigers lost their finale with the Mets, keeping the Indians two game advantage in the AL Central intact.
On Deck: The Indians will end their quick road trip with two games in Washington starting tomorrow. The Nationals will go with Max Scherzer while the Indians counter with Trevor Bauer for the game that begins at 7:05 PM.
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