Player of the Game
Carlos Santana is credited with providing the only runs the Indians scored on the night and is thus tonight’s player of the game.
Feathers Up
Other than a rough fourth inning, Corey Kluber kept the Twins bats in check as he only allowed one hit through the first three innings.
Bryan Shaw came in to work out of bases loaded jam in the bottom of the sixth. It took him two pitches to retire Torii Hunter, as he grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Santana provided the only fireworks of the game by slamming a two-run HR in the bottom of the ninth inning, following a 2-out double from Francisco Lindor.
Milestone Alert: This was Corey Kluber’s 100th career start, placing him 50th in career starts in Indians history. In addition, his first strike out of the night moved him into 17th in single season strike outs and by finishing with six, he now has 230 on the season, four from 16th.
Feathers Down
Mike Aviles, who played left-field in place of the injured Michael Brantley, made an error on a line-drive single in the gap by Trevor Plouffe. The ball glanced off his glove and bounced away allowing Plouffe to take an extra base.
Brian Dozier hit a solo home-run in the bottom of the fourth off a fastball that was left up in the zone and it started a rally for the Twins. Joe Mauer followed with a double while Plouffe doubled in Mauer to make the score 2-0. Torii Hunter was later hit by a pitch and Eduardo Escobar singled home Mauer and Sano (who walked). The two-seamer Kluber threw to Dozier and Mauer looked flat and was left up in the zone– a recipe for big league hitters to salivate on.
Kluber did not have a good outing. He faced 19 batters and allowed five hits including one HR, struck out six while walking two. The bottom of the fourth inning was Kluber’s demise as he could not command the two-seamer nor the slider in that inning as each pitch was left up in the zone. He was replaced by Ryan Webb with two outs in the inning.
With the loss, the Indians have been officially eliminated from the Central Division race as Kansas City is just three wins or Minnesota losses from being the first team in baseball to clinch a division. The Indians Wild Card elimination number has been reduced to seven.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 – Minnesota Twins 4
Scoreboard Watch: David Freese hit a go-ahead two-run double in a three-run eighth inning to help the Angels rally for a 6-5 win over the Astros to gain ground in the AL wild-card race. The Angels took two of three in the series and is 1 1/2 games behind Houston for the second AL wild-card spot.
On Deck: The Indians wrap up the series tomorrow at 8:10pm on SportsTime Ohio. RHP Cody Anderson will face RHP Kyle Gibson. Gibson, a Greenfield, IN native, has not faced the Tribe in ’15 but is 1-1 with a 5.61 ERA in 25.2 innings pitched vs. them lifetime.
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