Player of the Game
Mike Aviles was responsible for the Tribe’s walk-off win, but even before that he was having a pretty solid game. He ended up going 3-4 with a run, a double and the game winning RBI. In addition to his great day at the plate, he made a fantastic diving stop on defense to bail out Danny Salazar early on. For his efforts, his final POG score was 3.51, giving him his second Player of the Game of the season.
Feathers Up
Despite another error, this was the finest performance of the Indians defense this season. Carlos Santana started things off early with a bare handed play on a bunt to start the game and adding to more with tremendous diving stops in the fourth and fifth. Michael Brantley grabbed an extra out from the Twins when he threw out Chris Colabello who was trying to turn a single into a double as well, but the best play of the night had have been Nyjer Morgan’s fantastic jumping catch at the wall in left field against Josmil Pinto.
Not wanting anyone to grab his spotlight, Michael Brantley came though again in the clutch, giving the Indians an early lead. After the first two batters in the third struck out, Mike Aviles, Nyjer Morgan and Nick Swisher all reached base. With two outs and the bases loaded, Brantley then hit a two run double, giving him 26 RBI on the year, a seven game hitting streak, a .750 average with the bases loaded and a 2-1 Indians lead.
Danny Salazar wasn’t quite as good as the rest of the rotation this last time through, but was still pretty impressive against the Twins tonight. He gave up just one run on five hits and a walk prior to the seventh inning and he struck out seven. He did give up two hits in the seventh before being pulled for Bryan Shaw, who allowed both of those runners to score, but that doesn’t take away from what he did in his first six innings. Through the last five starts, Indians starters have thrown 36 innings and allowed just five runs.
The Indians walked off for the first time in 2014 after Bryan Shaw allowed the Twins to come back in the seventh. The rally started when the most unexpected of hitters, Asdrubal Cabrera, lead the inning off with a double. Lonnie Chisenhall bunted him to third, only to have Yan Gomes ground out to short stop. With two outs in the inning, nine hitter, Mike Aviles came through with a single up the middle for the win.
Feathers Down
The Twins struck first in the third and it was surprising they didn’t get more than one considering what the Indians gave them for free. After two outs in the inning, Danny Salazar walked Pedro Florimon, who proceeded to steal second and go to third on another Yan Gomes error. This time, Salazar threw an excellent pitch to nab Florimon with and a good throw by Gomes would have caught him out, but it skipped into the outfield for his team leading ninth error. Brian Dozier then doubled him home, before Sam Fuld was able to reach base via the strike out-wild pitch. This was the third batter struck out that was allowed to reach base in the past two games, but at least he was stranded when Trevor Plouffe lined out to deep center.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 4 – Minnesota Twins 3
On Deck: It’s time for day baseball as the Tribe will take on the Twins one last time before heading to Tampa. Justin Masterson will face Kevin Correia at 12:05 PM.
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