Player of the Game
After hitting safely in just two of his last eight games and getting not getting on base multiple times in a game since September 11th, Roberto Perez made his own luck with three hits in four at bats. His biggest hit was a solo home run in the seventh, but he knocked in another run with a single in the eighth. Perez also caught a runner stealing early in the game in what has to be considered the best overall performance of his season.
Feathers Up
With six RBI, two home runs, four doubles and a .458 average last week, Carlos Santana won a tie of the AL Player of the Week along with Justin Upton of the Tigers.
Coco Crisp hasn’t been all that productive for the Tribe since coming back to Cleveland, but when he has been, he’s been huge. He started off tonight’s game with a two run, two out home run that scored Jose Ramirez from first after it looked like the inning would end in disappointment. Instead, after the home run three more Indians reached and, although they didn’t score, the extra work that inning and in the fifth lead to an early departure for Buck Farmer.
Milestone Alert: Santana walked in the second inning to load the bases and it was his 95th of the year. It was also incredibly the 627th of his career, tying him with Charlie Jamieson for 9th most in Indians history. Next on the list is Joe Sewell with 654, so Santana will end the season in ninth, impressive considering Santana is the only one in the top 13 with less than 1,000 games played with the team and the only one in the top 11 with less than 1,200 games played.
Milestone Alert #2: It was much earlier than usual, but Bryan Shaw grabbed his 25th hold of the season by getting the final two outs in the sixth and the first in the seventh. Having 25 in a single season is special enough to warrant mentioning as it ranks fifth in Indians history in a single season, tied with Rafael Perez (2008) and Joe Smith (2013), but it was a little more for Shaw. The hold was also his 84th career hold in Cleveland, tying him for second in Indians history with Rafael Betancourt. Joe Smith holds the team record with 88, a number that Shaw will almost certainly reach next season.
The Tigers came back multiple times tonight, but the Indians kept pushing the lead and ultimately it was enough to stay ahead. They added two in the fifth thanks to hits by Santana and Jason Kipnis followed by a Mike Napoli sacrifice fly, then added another single run on a Roberto Perez home run in the seventh. Despite starting the eighth with two straight outs, the Indians added another two runs there with three straight singles from Crisp, Rajai Davis and Perez before a two base error on a pop fly to right allowed the second run in the inning to score.
Milestone #3: Davis pinch hit for Tyler Naquin early in the game and stole third after a single in the eighth. It was his 42nd of the season, pushing him into 14th in Indians history for a single season, surpassing Elmer Flick (1907) and Shoeless Joe Jackson (1911) and tying Omar Vizquel (1999). This is the largest total number of steals in one year for the Indians since Kenny Lofton stole 54 in 1998. He has also been the most successful stealer of those with at least 42 steals at 87.5% with just six times caught stealing. The next best was Lofton in 1992 with a success rate of 84.6%.
Despite some shakiness early on by the bullpen and the fact that they had to get five innings out of four pitchers, Andrew Miller and Cody Allen were utterly dominant to end the game. Miller retired five batters and struck out four for the win and Allen got a 1-2-3 save, finishing the game with a strike out of Cameron Maybin.
It took a little longer than they had initially hoped due to a poor showing against Chicago in the weekend series, but the Indians have finally clinched their first Central Division title since 2007 and their eighth since the divisions were split in 1994. With 91 wins, the Indians have officially eliminated the Tigers from the divisional race.
Feathers Down
Corey Kluber struggled in the third inning, allowing a walk and two singles to load the bases, but he was able to get out of it with a short fly to center and a ground ball to second. Dan Otero had been warming during the inning, an emergency option should things get out of hand, and surprisingly, he came in to begin the fifth with no sign of Kluber. Later it was announced that Kluber left the game with right groin tightness.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 7 – Detroit Tigers 4
On Deck: The Indians will look to continue their dominance against Detroit as Justin Verlander will pitch against Mike Clevinger in game two of four, starting at 7:10 PM in Detroit.
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