Roster Update: T.J. House was activated from the 15 Day DL today, but will stay in Columbus on a minor league option. Shaun Marcum will remain on the 25 man roster as the fifth starter for the foreseeable future.
Player of the Game
Danny Salazar followed up a less than stellar performance in his last outing against Texas with a very good start in The Windy City. The right-hander went six shutout innings, allowing five hits and three walks while striking out eight. Salazar did have moments where he struggled with his control, but this ‘bend but don’t break’ performance helped the Indians to their first three game winning streak of the year.
Feathers Up
Before the game, Terry Francona told reporters that Yan Gomes will be behind the dish for the Tribe this Sunday at home against the Cincinnati Reds. Gomes has been on the disabled list since spraining his MCL against the Detroit Tigers on April 11, at Progressive Field.
Playing from in front; The Indians scored four in the first inning behind a RBI single from Michael Brantley, Carlos Santana scoring on a double play ball off of the bat of Ryan Raburn, and then back-to-back home runs from Nick Swisher and Mike Aviles. The Indians tacked on another run in the second when Roberto Perez used good base running to score from third on a Santana dribbler out in front of the plate to make the score 5-0. Playing from in front has brought good things for the Indians this season, and tonight was no different.
The Indians are a team that tend to be known for all the wrong things defensively, but in the bottom of the fifth Jose Abreu crushed a ball to deep right center that Michael Bourn made a phenomenal catch on, turned and fired the ball to Jason Kipnis, who in turn completed the double play with a throw to first baseman Carlos Santana to end the inning.
Feathers Down
Although he did pitch very well, Salazar struggled with his control at times. One instance of this was the bottom of the third inning when he loaded the bases with two walks and a single, however he struck out the side in the inning. Salazar was very effective when he went back to basics and was able to locate his fastball, when he tried to do other things he was not nearly as effective.
Jose Ramirez made another careless error on a routine ground ball to shortstop in the fourth inning. The error was his team leading eighth. While the error did not end up costing the Indians on the scoreboard, it did force Salazar to throw five more pitches than he would have needed to get out of the inning.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 – Chicago White Sox 2
On Deck: The Indians return to Progressive Field for the beginning of a three game series with the in-state rival Cincinnati Reds at 7:10 as Carlos Carrasco and Mike Leake square off.
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