Player of the Game
Jeff Manship did a terrific job of escaping a bases loaded jam in the 7th. After the first three batters reached, he retired the final three to keep the Indians in the game with the opportunity to win it in the eighth and ninth.
Feathers Up
Yan Gomes continues to swing a hot bat as he added two hits including a double to dead center field in the ninth.
Milestone Alert: With Miguel Sano‘s strikeout in the bottom of the fifth, Salazar entered into good company and also made Indians history. It was his 418th career K which was good enough for him to enter the Indians top 50, tying Cy Falkenberg (no relation to Cy Young).
Feathers Down
The Twins scored three times in the bottom of the third after the inning should have been over. OF Aaron Hicks tripled home SS Eduardo Escobar after Escobar walked on what should have been a called third strike to end the inning. Danny Salazar threw Escobar a 3-2 FB on the inner half of the strikezone and homeplate umpire Tom Hallian called it ball four. That set the tone for the rest of the third as the Twins plated two more runs on RBI doubles from Brian Dozier and Joe Mauer.
When Salazar started pitching from the stretch, his fastball became flat and was left up in the zone to both Dozier and Mauer. It looked as if he was not getting the hip rotation he needed as his weight came towards home. This left his arm at a slot much higher than when he threw from the windup.
Michael Brantley was replaced by Michael Martinez in the bottom of the fourth. He tried to make a diving catch on Hicks’ triple to left-center field and seemed to jam his right shoulder on the fall. He stayed in to bat in the top-half of the inning and visibly clutched his shoulder after swinging.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 1 – Minnesota Twins 3
Scoreboard Watch: The Angels beat the Astros 4-3 tonight, which would have been very good news had the Indians won. Instead, the Indians elimination number in the Wild Card has dropped to eight with 13 games left.
On Deck: The Indians continue this vital three game series against the Twins at 8:10 pm tomorrow night. Corey Kluber will face Phil Hughes. Hughes had moved to the bullpen after he struggled in his first start back from a back injury on Set. 15. He gave up a run with a strikeout in two innings in relief on Saturday and that convinced the Twins to give him another shot at the rotation with Tommy Milone dealing with a sore shoulder. This will be his fourth start against Cleveland this season; he is 1-2 with a 8.44 ERA in 16 innings pitched. He’s struck out nine while walking two and giving up two HR’s.
There could be lengthy delay’s during tomorrow’s contest as the forecast calls for rain and storms through most of the evening.
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