Player of the Game
With 4 hits tonight, Carlos Santana played an important role in officially eliminating the Kansas City Royals from winning the division. He pushed the Tribe’s lead to 4-2 with an RBI single in the eighth. The RBI turned out to be huge as Cody Allen gave up a leadoff homer to Salvador Perez in the ninth. It was the fifth four-hit game of his career and the first since 2014.His WPA was .226 on the night.
Feathers Up
Jose Ramirez hit three straight doubles to help Corey Kluber win his 18th game. Ramirez scored the Tribe’s first run and gave Kluber a 3-2 lead with two-out double in the fifth off Royals starter Ian Kennedy. The switch-hitting third baseman came into the game hitting .356 (47-for-132) with runners in scoring position.
Kluber (18-9, 3.11) struck out nine in 6 2/3 innings to improve to 10-1 in his last 14 starts. He is 9-1 with a 2.41 ERA in 11 starts since the All-Star break.
The bullpen shined again as Andrew Miller, Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen secured the win over the last 2 2/3 innings. Allen pitched the ninth for his 28th save.
Milestone Alert: With his big night, Santana moved beyond some arbitrary milestones he has been chasing all season. With four hits, now 137 on the season, he has jumped into the 50th most in a career in Indians history with 833 in his career. His doubles allowed him to move into 25th all time in Indians history, a three way tie with Sandy Alomar and Jeff Heath with 195 each. Finally, his first of two RBI was number 500, a completely arbitrary distinction, but worth noting as only 26 other Indians have reached that point in the past 116 years.
Milestone Alert Part 2: With his team best 23rd hold (Miller also has 23 holds, but most came in New York), Shaw now ranks tenth in single season history in the new fangled stat, tied with himself from last season and Vinnie Pestano in 2011. He still has an extremely outside shot of reaching number one in Indians career history this year if he can keep a lead of three or less for at least one out in just over half of the remaining games (he’ll get it next year, don’t worry).
The Indians improved to 10-5 against the Royals this year with four games left. They are 43-22 in the Central.
Feathers Down
Kluber took the lead into the third and retired the first two batters without incident. But the next four Royals reached on base hits to take a 2-1 lead. Kendrys Morales and Perez each singled home a run before Kluber ended the inning.
The Indians threatened in the third and fourth innings, but couldn’t score. Roberto Perez and Santana opened the third with singles, but Kennedy retired the next three batters.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4 – Kansas City Royals 3
Scoreboard Watch: With the win, the Indians have officially eliminated the Royals from the AL Central race. The Tigers game was rained out and rescheduled for tomorrow. The Indians win moved their magic number to 5 and their division lead to 7.5 games.
On Deck: Mike Clevinger (2-2, 4.75) will face lefty Jason Vargas (0-0, 3.00) Thursday at 7:10 p.m. Clevinger has allowed two earned runs in eight innings in his last two starts as the Indians continue to stretch him out in case he needs to start in the postseason. He’s never faced the Royals.
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