Player of the Game
The same man who has been the Indians biggest hero of the season was the Indians hero tonight as it was Michael Brantley who created the tie in the seventh inning that would eventually force extra innings. It was his second double on the night that scored Michael Bourn for the Indians fourth run, but he also scored a run earlier in the game after his first double. In addition, Brantley made a nice running catch in left to barely edge him over Yan Gomes for Player of the Game.
Feathers Up
The Indians scored a couple times in the sixth to shrink the Tiger lead and push Max Scherzer to his limit. With one out, Carlos Santana walked (his 99th of the season) to get things started. Jason Kipnis hit a line drive to left that Rajai Davis came close to catching, but Kipnis was able to steal a double when he missed on the dive. Santana came home on a ground out by Gomes, then with two outs, Lonnie Chisenhall scored Kipnis from second on an opposite field single to left. While Chisenhall was able to go to second on the throw and to third on a wild pitch, he was stranded there when Zach Walters lined out to first.
The Indians did their best to not only beat Scherzer tonight, but to beat him next time out as well. By pushing him to 124 pitches in just six innings, there is a greatly increased chance that he will be less than his normal Cy Young self next time around. Unfortunately, his next start will likely come against the Royals, so the Tigers losing would not be of great benefit to Cleveland.
Milestone Alert: With an intentional walk in the seventh inning, Carlos Santana hit the 100 walk mark for the first time in his career. He is just the 9th different Indians hitter to reach the milestone in one year. Prior to this year, the last time a hitter walked 100 times for the Indians was in 2007 when both Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore did so. Jim Thome did it the most times for the Indians with six seasons.
Feathers Down
Trevor Bauer had another false start today as he was unable to control any of his pitches in the first inning. The Tigers ran all the way through their lineup with four hits and three walks to score four runs. Reserve catcher, Bryan Holaday had the biggest hit of the inning, scoring two with a single after Bauer had worked to get the second out with just one run in. While Bauer was able to pitch deep into the game, throwing into the sixth without allowing another run, placing the Indians in a 4-0 hole to start the game was a lot to ask a team that barely scores over four runs a game.
After running through all his regular right handers in regulation, Terry Francona was forced to use Josh Tomlin for the 11th inning and he immediately showed why he is no longer in the starting rotation. Tomlin walked Rajai Davis, the fastest Tiger, then allowed a single to Ian Kinsler to put runners on second and third. Ezequiel Carrera was intentionally walked with Tomlin preferring to face the rookie who pinch ran for Miguel Cabrera, Eugenio Suarez. Suarez did his best impression of Cabrera, however, driving home two on a single to left. Tomlin then put the game completely to rest with a three run home run allowed to Victor Martinez. Tomlin retired just one batter in the inning, the first he faced, and was removed after the Martinez home run.
While there is still three weeks of baseball to be played with the Indians just six games back in the Central and alive in the Wild Card. Tonight’s loss and the series loss as a whole has done more to decrease the Indians play-off odds than any other one game this year. The difference between a split series and a 3-1 loss is more massive than is immediately obvious, especially coming against a team they are chasing in the division and Wild Card race. It will be nearly impossible for the Tribe to make up the gap at this point.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4 – Detroit Tigers 11
On Deck: After being shredded by the Tigers pitching over three of the four games this series, the Indians will catch a break by having to face just the second best pitcher in the AL, Chris Sale. Sale and the White Sox will start the three game series at 7:05 PM in Cleveland, Friday night.
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