Player of the Game
Jason Kipnis has 7 RBI in his last four games, but tonight is his first Player of the Game of the stretch as the pitching finally took a back seat to the offense. He had two triples tonight, one short of the club record, and knocked in three.
Feathers Up
The Indians got on the board first in the third thanks to some bottom of the line-up table setters. Both Chris Gimenez and Rajai Davis reached with seeing-eye singles to the right side with one out against Jordan Zimmermann. Carlos Santana grounded out to first, moving the runners up one base, but Jason Kipnis didn’t need that as he crushed a triple to the base of the wall in right.
Comerica Park is a haven for triples, but the Indians had some help tonight in tallying three in the fourth. After Kipnis’ legitimate three bagger in the third, Jose Ramirez hit one to center that looked like it possibly should have been called a ground rule double. The play wasn’t reviewed and after Juan Uribe was hit by a pitch, Lonnie Chisenhall hit a low line drive to right that Steven Moya misplayed in right. The ball flew just over Moya’s glove as he went into a half dive and Chisenhall pulled up safe at third with a two run triple. Chris Gimenez then brought him home with another single to right between first and second.
Carlos Santana was unable to add to the Indians triple total as he only hit a double to knock in Gimenez from second with two outs, but Kipnis remedied the situation by knocking out Zimmermann with his second triple of the game. The stand-up triple to right scored Santana for the Tribe’s seventh run and fifth of the inning. It was the Indians fourth triple of the game, the most for the Tribe since 2001.
Milestone Alert: With the win, the Indians have now 42 wins on the season, 12 games above .500. This isn’t the milestone, however. Instead, we need to recognize Terry Francona for his 300th win as Indians manager, just half way through his fourth season. This is also win #7 on the current streak.
Feathers Down
While most of the offense was on point tonight and the defense wasn’t bad either, Francisco Lindor had a rare poor day. He went 0 for 4 at the plate with a strike out and twice he stranded Kipnis at third after a triple. He also committed an error on an attempted double play, allowing a second run to score on the play in the fifth. The error was Lindor’s fourth on the season in over 300 chances.
It was a rough night for Danny Salazar, although he pitched well enough to earn the win behind the bountiful Indians offense. He walked two in the first inning and five total in the game while striking out just three. While he generally was able to work out of his problems, he allowed three runs in the sixth when the Tigers had two singles, a walk and another single before an out was recorded. Because of his lack of control, Salazar hit the 100 pitch mark in the seventh after another walk and was removed from the game.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 7 – Detroit Tigers 5
On Deck: The series will continue tomorrow a little earlier in the evening with a 4:10 PM start time in Detroit. Carlos Carrasco will pitch for the Tribe against right hander Anibal Sanchez.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
