(Sat) Indians 8, Rays 4 (Box)
(Sun) Indians 5, Rays 2 (Box)
Cleveland’s hitters are absolutely on fire, just in time for an extended break. Who’s the hottest? That’s a tough call between Ben Francisco and Jhonny Peralta. Francisco’s stat line for the series- 9 for 15 (.600!) with 3 doubles, a homer, 6 RBI, and 3 walks. Peralta’s line- 7 for 15 (.467) with 2 doubles, 2 homers and 7 RBI. Meanwhile, the TEAM hit .338 and scored 31 runs in the 4 game series.
Just think, 12 more wins and this team is mediocre again!
Andy Marte hit his first home run of the season, which officially gives him one more than Victor Martinez. (Ouch.) And of course Ryan Garko had a 5 RBI game. Perhaps lost in the offensive surge would be the work of the Tribe bullpen, which aside from Juan Rincon’s 4 run inning was brilliant. For the series Tribe relievers worked 15 innings and gave up only the 4 runs on Saturday.
Matt Ginter pitched well in his first start as an Indian. It was the kind of start you would like to see from your 5th man. He gave us 5 good innings. Jeremy Sowers walked 7 on Sunday, but got away with it for the most part. He surrendered 2 runs but struck out 8 in his 4 innings to get out of jams.
The Indians beat the Rays in every phase of the game this series, even defensively. Tampa heads into the break losers of 7 straight, and more importantly found themselves out of first place in the East. The Rays had been trendy picks to come out of the East, but it wouldn’t surprise me to hear less about them over the break.
