I know it’s cold and baseball still seems so far away, so my gift to all of you is to remind you of Summer. Last Summer in fact and I’ll do so by providing you with some of the most entertaining games from the last Cleveland Indians seasons. Just because they didn’t make the play-offs doesn’t mean there weren’t high points and the games selected below were some of the best. Following each condensed game is a short description of why the game was so great, so if you don’t want spoilers of things that happened six months ago, click the link in the headline for each game and you can watch the whole thing over at MLB.com.
5. Rangers at Indians May 27th: Remembering Those Who Are No Longer With Us
[mlbvideo id=”134341783″ width=”400″ height=”224″ /]Coming off two straight losses to the Rangers, the Indians tried to make it up in a single game and generally a single inning as they had one of their best of the year. After the rare combination of RBI from both Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn in the second, the Indians put up eight runs in the third and then solo runs in both the fourth and fifth. On the mound, Carlos Carrasco pitched eight innings and allowed just one run while striking out eight although Scott Atchison did allow two runs in the ninth to make it look a little closer, but this one was never in doubt.
Enjoying all those players who have left the Tribe since the beginning of 2015, in addition to Atchison, Swisher and Bourn, who had two RBI, Mike Aviles stole a base and David Murphy knocked in a run as well during the big eighth. Other stars of note were Lonnie Chisenhall and Carlos Santana as this was a very odd game for the Tribe as far as where the production came from along with the quantity.
4. Indians at Tigers 4/24: Defense Matters
[mlbvideo id=”88372883″ width=”400″ height=”224″ /]It may be surprising since Francisco Lindor was still in AAA, but is was this early season game against Detroit that was the Indians greatest defensively this year. Using a very sophisticated method of evaluating plays, not game this year had more incredible defense by the Cleveland Indians. Of particular note were two great ones by Jason Kipnis, one from Brandon Moss and another from Jose Ramirez. If that isn’t enough, Danny Salazar started and was terrific, striking out 11 while allowing just a single run through seven innings. Oh, yeah. The Indians won 13-1 against their division rivals to make things just that much better.
3. Yankees at Indians 8/11: Let’s Play 16
[mlbvideo id=”359686383″ width=”400″ height=”224″ /]What’s better than beating the Yankees? How about playing 16 innings first and then walking off? The Indians scored in both the first and second innings to take the lead, but Carrasco gave up solo home runs in both the sixth and the eighth to tie the game. His eight innings, eight strike outs and just four hits allowed were very impressive, although he ended up pitching just half the game.
The first tie was broken in the tenth when Bryan Shaw gave up two to Chase Headley, but the Indians improbably came back in the bottom of the inning against the nearly perfect closer, Andrew Miller. Hits from Francisco Lindor and Michael Brantley started the inning, followed by a sacrifice fly and single to bring them home. With the game tied, the Indians went down quickly to push things even further.
It wasn’t until the 16th inning that another run would score and again Lindor and Brantley were right in the middle of it, batting after Ramirez singled, moving him over and scoring him to end the game with a walk off win.
What may have been the most impressive part of this game was the quantity and quality of pitchers. While the Indians had a great chance to score in the 14th and missed it, other than Miller and Shaw, every one of the 16 pitchers used in the game did a great job shutting down the other team. The condensed game above should be pretty short given the amount of innings as 15 of 32 half innings ended without a base runner reaching.
2. Indians at Cubs 8/24: A Make-Up Game Worth Finishing
[mlbvideo id=”406747183″ width=”400″ height=”224″ /]It is not arguable that this was the Indians most exciting loss this year and as such, will be the only loss on this list. Originally scheduled for July 15th, the Indians and Cubs didn’t make up this rain out until late August on the tail end of an 11 game road trip for the Tribe, filling up one of just four off-days for Cleveland after August 11th.
Jon Lester and Corey Kluber matched up and not surprisingly, few runs were scored. The first came home in the seventh after a Chris Coghlan double and an Anthony Rizzo triple. Kluber had a perfect game going into the sixth, something that was a constant theme this season. On the other side, Lester was also terrific and kept the Indians scoreless until the 9th when an odd turn of events allowed the Tribe to tie.
Not wanting to play any more baseball than necessary, Kris Bryant ended it in the bottom of the inning in truly spectacular fashion. Even with the Indians taking the loss, you have to appreciate the power of the National League Rookie of the Year.
1. Indians at Rays July 1st: Carrasco Comes So Close
[mlbvideo id=”219456183″ width=”400″ height=”224″ /]In a season filled with unbelievable starting pitcher performances and near no hitters, this was the closest. The Indians had this game early on thanks to five RBI from Moss on a double and home run, but that wasn’t the big story. Starting on June 29th with an incredible start by Cody Anderson, three straight pitchers came closer to perfect games than ever before without getting one. Salazar was the starter in the second game and was fantastic on his own, but the best of the three starts and one of the best for the Indians this season was Carrasco’s on July 1st.
Through the first eight innings, Carrasco struck out 12 and didn’t allow a hit, walk, hit batter or error. He was helped by impressive defense from Santana and Aviles of all people, allowing him to remain perfect until the first batter in the ninth. At this point, he was completely out of gas and Asdrubal Cabrera walked to start the inning, ended the perfect game as a prelude to the end of the no hitter and the shut out just four batters later. Austin Adams retired the final batter to keep Carrasco from even getting a complete game, but none of that should detract from his first eight innings.
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