Roster Update: Before the game the Indians placed pitcher Cody Anderson on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained left oblique. Reliever Shawn Armstrong was called up from Triple-A Columbus to take Anderson’s place. Outfielder Tyler Holt also was optioned to Columbus and outfielder Abraham Almonte was called up from Triple-A to take his place. Almonte was recently acquired in the Marc Rzepczynski trade with San Diego on July 31.
Player of the Game
It was quite the debut for Almonte as he started in center field and made an immediate impact with his new team by slugging two doubles in his first two plate appearances. After grounding out in the fourth inning, Almonte followed with a line-drive single in the sixth inning for his third hit. Then he smashed a home run over the right field wall in the eighth inning for his first home run of the year. Almonte finished 4-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBI. A pretty impressive night.
Feathers Up
There are plenty of good things to talk about in this contest that wrapped up with the Twins using a position player to pitch the bottom of the eight inning:
Jose Ramirez was torrid as he set the table for the Indians with three hits in his first three at-bats and was just a home run short of the cycle. He finished 3-for-5 with a walk and also scored two runs and had three RBI in a career night for the young utility infielder.
Jerry Sands didn’t get the start, but he made a huge impact with a pinch-hit grand slam in the fifth inning to make it 13-3 while batting for Lonnie Chisenhall. Sands finished the night 1-for-3 after grounding out in the seventh inning and striking out in the eighth against position player Shane Robinson.
Francisco Lindor was 2-for-3, but he also had two sacrifice flies and a sacrifice bunt. Kind of unusual to have three sacrifices in one game.
Michael Brantley also had a great night with three hits including a double in four at-bats, with a walk, two runs scored and an RBI.
Feathers Down
With a comfortable lead for most of the game, Trevor Bauer was in the business of throwing strikes. However, he gave up a two-run home run to Kurt Suzuki in the top of the fourth inning to make it 8-3. Bauer also gave up a solo home run to Joe Mauer in the first inning that gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead. With a 13-3 lead, Bauer gave up another solo HR this time in the sixth inning to Eddie Rosario to make it 13-4. Certainly, it was not the best start for Bauer who also had eight strikeouts in 6.1 innings, but when the offense clicks like it did tonight, he pitched well enough to earn the victory.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 17 – Minnesota Twins 4
On Deck: Corey Kluber (6-12, 3.60 ERA) gets the start on Aug. 9 at 1:10 p.m. against Phil Hughes (10-7, 4.14 ERA) to wrap up the three-game series against the Twins.
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