Player of the Game
Michael Brantley knocked in the first two runs for the Indians with an RBI single and a solo home run. Late in the game, Brantley started the ninth off with a single and a steal, leading up to another walk-off win. With a POG score of 6.10, this marks Brantley's third consecutive game with a score over 4.00, while no other player has had a score higher than two more than once during that span.
Feathers Up
Justin Masterson threw off the mound after the Indians game on Sunday and has been cleared to play in an actual game. He will be in the bullpen tomorrow night as the Indians look to stretch him back out to starter length. Assuming he gets a couple relief appearances in before the season ends, he would be available as a starter during the play-offs.
Speaking of top Indians pitchers, Ubaldo Jimenez continued his run as staff ace in excellent fashion, giving him nine straight great starts to end the season. Over that span he holds a 1.81 ERA with 70 strike outs over 59.2 innings. This kind of success is far greater than anything the Indians could have hoped for when they accepted his option going into this season.
Michael Brantley tied the game up in the seventh after the Indians had went down 1-2 with his tenth home run of the year. He becomes the ninth player to hit ten home runs for the Indians this year with another three players sitting at nine. This shows tremendous depth in the Indians line-up, although there is little as far as real power goes, with no players hitting more than 20 home runs.
The Jason Giambi magic was working again tonight when he pinch hit with two outs in the ninth. The forthcoming Giambi blast was the Indians 11th walk-off win of the year. It was also his 438th career home run (Milestone Alert) good enough for 39th all-time, tied with Adam Dunn and Andre Dawson.
Feathers Down
Chris Perez blew his fifth save of the season, giving up a game tying home run to Dayan Viciedo, the first hitter he faced in the ninth. Perez has not pitched well this month, but his failures have generally been in non save situations and this is his first blown save of September. A second solo home run allowed to Alejandro De Aza allowed the go ahead run to score.
Michael Bourn was removed from the game prior to the ninth inning, with Drew Stubbs coming in for him on defense. Nothing was announced, but since the game was close it can be assumed that there was something wrong with Bourn.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 – Chicago White Sox 4
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