Deep into the off-season and still far from the indefatigable optimism of Spring Training, all baseball fans are pining for more of the great sport. There is no time of year more devoid of the horsehide spheroid than the middle of Winter, so Burning River Baseball is here to help. While the Indians season was not as successful as they would have liked, there were still some great moments. For those looking for a reminder or just missing baseball altogether, below are the top ten games from this season. Embedded are the condensed games, but the full games are available through MLB.tv if you have a subscription. Below each game will be a short description of why it was so great, so make sure not to scroll ahead if you don’t want any spoilers. For those craving a deeper look into each game, click the headline for each game’s original Post Game Report.
10. May 7th vs Minnesota – Not Quite Gold Glovers
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While the Indians did have the worst defense in baseball in 2014, this game is proof that it wasn’t all that bad. Michael Brantley, Mike Aviles and Nyjer Morgan all contributed stellar defense while Carlos Santana played third base like Brooks Robinson. The only error of the game came from Yan Gomes and he made up for that with a home run. This was also a well pitched game with both Ricky Nolasco and Danny Salazar throwing six innings with three runs allowed. While Bryan Shaw did give up the two run lead in the seventh, the Indians would eventually come back and walk off in the ninth with a double from Asdrubal Cabrera and an RBI single from Aviles.
9. May 21st vs Detroit – Balk This Way
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While this was the infamous balk-off victory, this game is also important as it is a perfect example of Terry Francona‘s many man bullpen. Starter Zach McAllister pitched just two innings, allowing five runs and ultimately being placed on the disabled list the next day. After him, eight more Indians pitched, three of whom pitched at least two innings, including Josh Tomlin, who finished the game. Marc Rzepczynski and John Axford each gave up two runs in regulation, leading to a 9-7 Tigers lead going into the bottom of the ninth. The Tribe came back with a two run, game tying home run by David Murphy to push things into extra innings, then after the Tigers added one more in the 13th, Aviles, Brantley and a balk by Al Albuquerque gave the Indians the balk off win.
8. August 3rd vs Texas – Murphy Makes Texas Pay
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This game featured a solid pitching match-up of Yu Darvish against Trevor Bauer and it didn’t disappoint. Heading into the ninth, the Rangers were winning just 3-1, the only Indians run coming courtesy of former Ranger David Murphy. In the ninth, it was Murphy again who made his former team pay for letting him go with a two run home run to tie the game. Murphy also played solid defense in right, saving at least one run and giving the Indians a chance to win the game, which they did in the bottom of the 12th, when Brantley hit a lead-off, walk-off home run.
7. September 3rd vs Detroit – Salazar’s Masterpiece
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After losing two in a row to the Tigers to begin September it looked like a repeat of 2013 was in store, but this time, the Indians had a stopper. Salazar finally pitched up to his potential, striking out nine in his first career complete game shut out. Carlos Santana’s first inning home run started the scoring as the Indians tagged Justin Verlander with all seven runs to easily coast to victory.
6. June 24th @ Arizona – Too Many Comebacks
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To be fair, in any season recap a loss must be included and this is the one. Against one of the worst teams in baseball with Justin Masterson on the mound, the Indians came into Phoenix looking for a quick two game series sweep. Instead, they got their longest game of the season. Things started poorly on the mound for both sides as each starter was pulled after pitching four innings and allowing five runs. After Kyle Crockett gave up one more in the sixth however, Indians pitching would keep the Diamondbacks off the board until the 11th. With the Tribe down one in the ninth, the first comeback started when Gomes singled in Cabrera from second with a two out single. This, however just tied the game and extra innings were in store. In the 11th, the Indians took the lead with a two run Carlos Santana home run to the bullpen in right, but it was the D-Backs turn to come back and with a David Peralta home run and an Ender Inciarte RBI single, the game was tied again. After the Indians had exhausted their entire bullpen (they used ten pitchers in all), Mark Lowe was all that was left and it was he who ultimately gave up the walk off single to Aaron Hill in the 14th inning.
5. June 15th @ Boston – Swisher’s Redemption
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The past year was almost a lost season for Nick Swisher, who dealt with injury, losing his position in the field and general struggles all around. This game, however, showed that baseball will always provide opportunities for redemption. This match against the Red Sox started with two great pitching performances by Corey Kluber and Brandon Workman, each of whom gave up two runs in more than five innings. Each team then burned through five relievers, only one of which allowed as much as a single hit until the twelfth pitcher game into the game. This was Junichi Tazawa, who allowed a lead-off home run in the 11th inning to Swisher, who had previously went 0/4 in the game, stranding four runners on base. The single run would be enough as Cody Allen came back out to get the two inning win.
4. June 28th @ Seattle – One Hit, Three Games
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Many pitching records and oddities occurred during the past season, but this may have been the strangest. While the Indians received many spectacular pitching performances this year, most came from Kluber or Carlos Carrasco late in the season. No one would expect that the best came off the arm of Josh Tomlin. In this game against the Mariners, Tomlin threw the first one hitter by an Indian since Billy Traber in 2003. Tomlin also struck out 11, something that is generally not his specialty. Behind him the Indians scored five runs, each knocked in by a different player. What really made this game strange was that it was the first of three one hitters, the other two coming at the Indians expense.
3. August 31st & September 22nd @ Kansas City – The World’s Longest Rain Delay
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With the Indians in a tight divisional race with both Detroit (who would eventually win the Central) and Kansas City (who would win the Wild Card and the AL Championship) this three game series at the end of August was one of the most important of the season. The Indians won the first two games by a total of 9-3 and were looking solid in the Sunday finale, taking a 2-1 lead into the ninth. The steady closer Allen then had a rare blown save, giving up a home run to Alex Gordon to tie the game. After Lonnie Chisenhall came through with a two run double in the top of the tenth, however, the rains came and the game was suspended. Almost a month later in Cleveland, Scott Atchison finished the bottom of the inning and the Indians swept the series. By clicking above, you can now watch the game in a reasonable time frame and without moving to another city.
2. June 9th @ Texas – Lonnie’s Big Night Out
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2014 was a breakout season forChisenhall and this game was his showcase. Not only was this one of the best games for a hitter this year, it was one of the greatest single game performances by anyone in the history of baseball. After knocking in just one run in all of April, Chisenhall used three home runs and a double (part of a 5/5 outing) to knock in nine against the Rangers. Of course, the rest of the offense helped out as well with Brantley and George Kottaras knocking home runs and Jason Kipnis coming through with four runs batted in, but Lonnie alone was responsible for more than half the runs in the Tribe’s 17-7 win.
1. July 30th vs Seattle – Kluber KO’s the King
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Undoubtedly, the greatest thing about the past year was Corey Kluber and his ultimate Cy Young winning season. This game in particular is the best example of his dominance as, just like with the Cy Young voting, it came down to a close race between Kluber and Felix Hernandez. As with the entire season, in this game Hernandez was great, allowing just two runs in seven innings (setting a new MLB record of 14 consecutive such games), but Kluber was better. The Indians ace needed just 85 pitches (69 strikes, 17 balls) to throw a complete game shut out, striking out eight and allowing just three hits. Doubles by Chisenhall and Gomes provided the only Indians offense, two runs in the fifth. In a season of dominating pitching performances, this was the best the Indians were involved in all year.
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