Player of the Game
On the day following a bullpen game, the Indians needed Corey Kluber to go deep into the game. He delivered, which earns him Player of the Game honors. Kluber was dominant from start to finish, and left the game with a line of 7.0 IP, 1 R (o ER), 10 K, 4 H, and 2 BB. With his ten strikeouts, Kluber passed 200 K’s on the season for the third season in a row, making him one of three Tribe pitchers to ever do so.
Feathers Up
While Kluber was the player of the game, Carlos Santana had perhaps the most important play of the game, sending a Jose Berrios offering deep to left field that gave the Indians a 3-0 lead in the second inning. The lead would be all the team needed to secure the win. The blast was Santana’s 31st of 2016, and traveled 447 feet after leaving the bat at 105 mph.
Though he has struggled since August, Tyler Naquin has had some quality at-bats recently, and Sunday was no exception. Without a platoon advantage against southpaw Pat Dean in the third inning, Naquin put together a 12 pitch at bat which ended in an RBI single. Naquin also singled in the ninth and took two walks in the game, giving him three hits and six walks in his last 14 plate appearances.
Feathers Down
While Corey Kluber reached a positive milestone Sunday, Mike Napoli accomplished something not quite as exciting. In the fourth inning, the 34 year-old took a questionable called third strike, which gave him 171 on the season – tying him for second in a single season in Indians history. Jim Thome also recorded 171 strikeouts in 1999 and 2000. His strikeout in the eighth inning moved him into sole possession of second, but he will need 13 more strikeouts to catch Jim Thome’s 185 mark posted in 2001.
Jason Kipnis was finally awarded a day off after playing in 66 straight games, but Indians’ fans were reminded why the second basemen rarely is out of the lineup. With Kipnis sitting, Michael Martinez was hitting ninth, and while Martinez did record two singles, he also inexplicably attempted to bunt with runners on second and third with one out in the second inning. As it that wasn’t bad enough in itself, Martinez popped his bunt to the pitcher, nearly running the Indians out of the inning. Later, he made a baserunning mistake that led to a double play to end a scoring threat.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 7 – Minnesota Twins 1
Scoreboard Watch: The Tigers fell to Baltimore 3-1, giving the Indians a seven game lead in the AL central, and lowering the team’s magic number to clinch the division to 14 games.
On Deck:
The Indians will travel to Chicago to take on the White Sox on Monday for an 8:10 first pitch, where they will send Carlos Carrasco (11-7, 3.15 ERA) to face Miguel Gonzalez (3-6, 3.81 ERA).
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
