Player of the Game
A fact that shouldn’t surprise anyone, Carlos Carrasco pitched another magnificent game tonight. He struck out nine in 7.1 innings and gave up just eight hits, two of which could have been called errors. He did give up two runs, which is about double his normal quota since rejoining the rotation, but the first of those should have been unearned after a situation to be discussed later. He will likely start the final game of the season for the Indians, allowing him to continue this tremendous turn around for one more game.

Feathers Up
While in general, the Indians offense was pitiful tonight, Michael Bourn had a pretty decent game. He started things off with a walk, showing much more patience than Carlos Santana did when he popped out on the first pitch with the bases loaded a few batters later. Bourn also singled and doubled later in the game as the only player to give the Indians a chance to score at all after the first inning.

Wild Card Round-Up: Both the Tigers and Mariners lost tonight, in addition to the Indians beating the Royals in the opener, but it might not be for anything. The Indians went into the series needing a sweep and with a loss in game one, can at most for a 2-1 series win. With that, Cleveland would still be in the running for one of the two Wild Cards, but it is a much longer shot right now than it was at 6:30.

Feathers Down
The Indians were set back by two things that have plagued them all season in the first inning. Terry Francona had a strange roster decision, using Chris Gimenez, who has primarily been a catcher in his career, at first base instead of Carlos Santana or Jesus Aguilar. In the first inning, this mistake showed itself as Gimenez allowed a two out, Eric Hosmer liner right to him to glance off his glove and into four territory, scoring Nori Aoki from second. The play was not called an error, but it was an easy one for a player who is used to playing first base, like Santana is.

The Indians loaded the bases in the first with no outs, taking advantage of some rust coming off Danny Duffy after he had missed his previous three starts. Michael Bourn walked, Jose Ramirez singled to left and Michael Brantley hit one off Duffy’s glove that the pitcher was unable to recover, giving him a 13 game hitting streak. With this beautiful set up, Carlos Santana popped out, Yan Gomes struck out looking after a long, tough at bat and Mike Aviles flew to right to leave the Royals with a 1-0 lead.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 0 – Kansas City Royals 2

Wild Card Magic #3

On Deck: Game two will take place tomorrow night, again at 7:05 PM. Danny Salazar will make his final start of the regular season against Yordano Ventura.