Roster Update: As shown by the use of Ryan Raburn and David Murphy as relief pitchers in last night’s ballgame, the Indians bullpen was a little shallow, but that issue has been resolved. Shaun Marcum has possibly made his last start as an Indian as he was designated for assignment to make room for Kyle Crockett.
In addition, Zach Walters, his role reduced since the promotion of Francisco Lindor, has been sent to AAA for Jeff Manship (aka, the Man Ship has come to port), a right handed reliever who has pitched well so far for Columbus this year (1.99 ERA, 31 K’s, 31.2 IP) despite poor Major League numbers (6.46 ERA, 90 K’s, 139.1 IP).
Player of the Game
Coming out of the second rain delay, the Indians bullpen was dominant in shutting down the dynamic Cubs offense that scored 20 runs in the first 14 innings of this series and the biggest part of the bullpen tonight was Zach McAllister. He pitched 1.1 shut out innings and, combined with Cody Allen and Marc Rzepczynski, Indians pitchers struck out Cubs for eight straight outs from the sixth through the eighth. While his season numbers are still not great, McAllister has been dominant out of the bullpen and now has a 2.48 ERA as a reliever (3.44 overall thanks to five earned runs in his first start) and a 10.9 K/9.
Feathers Up
Francisco Lindor provided some early highlights in this game due to his extreme aggressiveness. In the first, he moved Jason Kipnis to third with an opposite field single, then went to third himself on a Michael Brantley ground rule double. With one run in, Lindor sped home on a ball that dribbled away from Miguel Montero and scored the Tribe’s second run. In the third inning, he was responsible for another run as Danny Salazar had two outs with a runner on second when Lindor cut off the throw from Brandon Moss on a Dexter Fowler single, then attempted to get Fowler out at first. The throw hit Fowler and got away, allowing the Cubs first run of the night to score from third on an error, Lindor’s second in as many days.
Things were looking a little dicey in the fifth when, after two were out, Danny Salazar loaded the bases with a Kris Bryant infield single. The rains then came, causing the second delay of the night, this one of about an hour and twenty minutes. Not wanting to bring in any normal middle reliever into a tie game with the bases loaded, Terry Francona went with Cody Allen and the closer closed things out. After getting an easy pop out from Montero to end the inning, Allen struck out the side in the sixth, all looking.
The Indians were unable to get a hit to drive in the runner from third with no outs in the first, but they finally broke through in the seventh when Yan Gomes and Michael Bourn singled off Travis Wood, then Giovanny Urshela did the same against Justin Grimm. Urshela’s hit was a line drive to left and Gomes got a slow start, but was able to score from second due to a terrible throw in from Chris Coghlan in left.
Feathers Down
Twice tonight, Danny Salazar had issues when pitching to the Cubs’ rookie DH, Kyle Schwarber. Just up from AA for interleague play, Schwarber went 4/6 in his first two games (his entire career to this point has been against the Indians) and has already earned the respect of Major League umpires. In his first at bat, an 0-2 change-up that was called a ball, despite looking in the zone belied a one out single that ultimately turned into an unearned run in the third. In his second at bat, Salazar started him off 0-2 again, but threw three straight balls including a borderline fastball outside on 1-2. With the count full, Schwarber hit his first Major League home run to raise his season average to .750. Salazar appeared bothered by these and other close calls not going his way all night and it is possible he gave in a little after being disappointed by the strike zone.
Gomes scored the go ahead run in the bottom of the seventh, but slid hard into the catcher on the play and was removed from the game for Roberto Perez. He is considered day to day with cervical tightness (aka, a strained neck).
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4 – Chicago Cubs 3
On Deck: Continuing on the home stand, Carlos Carrasco will face Nate Karns of the Tampa Bay Rays, who has never pitched against Cleveland. The game will start a three game series with Tampa and will start at 7:10 PM, Friday night.
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