Jonah Keri: I think the Indians will surge back into the playoff hunt
May 27, 2015Browns waive OL Nick McDonald
May 27, 2015The Cleveland Indians missed a fantastic opportunity on Tuesday night as fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers spilled out from Quicken Loans Arena in pure jubilation to chaotically celebrate the Cavs punching their NBA Finals ticket for the first time since 2007. Many of those fans found their way to the gates of Progressive Field. Michael Brantley was at the plate with the Indians down a run in the bottom of the ninth, with two outs and runners on first and second. Alas, he did not come through.
However, the Indians’ lunch start time on Wednesday had the possibility of picking up Cleveland fans that took the day off of work after staying up too late celebrating Tuesday. In fact, the attendance was announced at a higher-than-expected number of 15,956 for the mid-week day game. Those fans were in for a treat as the Indians summarily destroyed the Texas Rangers 12-3 to prove that LeBron is not the only thing amazing about Cleveland sports.
Key Moment of the Game
Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps an eight-run third inning that blew the doors right off the whole game:
On Tuesday night, the Indians built a nice three-run lead in the early stages of the game, only to see Prince Fielder wipe it away with one swing of his bat. On Wednesday, the Indians apparently wanted to ensure that could not happen again. They built a nice two-run lead in the second inning, then they piled on another eight in the third, and Lonnie Chisenhall added a solo home run in the fourth just to prove that he could. Before lunch was completed, the Indians had given Carlos Carrasco a double-digit lead with which to work.
Also, the Indians scored in double-digits both times that Colby Lewis started a game against them this season. Sadly, it will be the last time that happens unless he is traded or the Indians meet the Rangers in the playoffs1 .
Key Moment Scorecard:
Texas Rangers: 0
Cleveland Indians: 1
Old Friends; Help or Haunt
Shin-Soo Choo: Outside of pulling a Mark Whiten 12-RBI game, there was not much Shin-Soo Choo was going to do to hurt the Indians. His 2-for-4 effort may have been enough in another game, but it certainly was not going to hurt in this one. HELP
The Nine w/ Trivia Time
Jason Kipnis: Jason Kipnis has had a fantastic month of May. So, it should not be a surprise that this was the second game in the month that Kipnis had both a double and a triple. He last achieved this accomplishment on May 10 when he came within a home run from completing the cycle against the Minnesota Twins.
It was also the 13th time that Kipnis reached base at least three times in a game in the month.
Note: Jason Kipnis has yet to receive the AL Player of the Week Award during May. If he somehow is passed over for the AL Player of the Month Award, then whoever does the voting should have their rights revoked.
Carlos Santana: Carlos Santana tied Carlos Baerga for the franchise record for home runs from a switch-hitter (with 104) when his three-run home run pushed the Indians’ scoring to double-digits in the bottom of the third inning.
Michael Brantley / Jose Ramirez: Michael Brantley reached base safely three times in a game for the first time since May 15 against the Rangers. Also, his 17th double put him in a tie for the MLB lead with Matt Carpenter and Adrian Gonzalez.
Jose Ramirez replaced him in the seventh inning. He had a good at-bat, but ultimately grounded into a fielder’s choice that did move Jason Kipnis over to third base (Carlos Santana was forced out at second).
David Murphy: Good-Guy Murphy is now batting .409/.417/.477 since May 10.
Nick Swisher: Nick Swisher took away any worry about his slow-trotting double on Tuesday when he hit his second home run of the season and proceeded to celebrate by participating in a playful O-H…I-O gesture with the fans seated just behind the Indians dugout. His home run gave the Indians climb three home runs in a game for just the third time this season, and the first since May 1 against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Lonnie Chisenhall: Lonnie had multiple extra-base hits for the first time since the April 24 thumping of the Detroit Tigers, which was also the last game in which he scored more than one run. In addition, that April 24 game was the last time that the Indians had recorded seven extra-base hits as a team.
Mike Aviles: Aviles managed to grab an outfield assist for himself when Terry Francona made defensive adjustments to give Michael Brantley some extra rest. Additionally, Aviles’ single to right in the bottom of the eighth ensured that every single Indians starter had a hit.
The 17 hits by the Indians were the most since a 17-7 victory against the Texas Rangers on June 9, 2014.
Michael Bourn Clutch RBI hits, stealing bases, and scoring runs. Did someone put an Atlanta jersey in his locker to make him think he was back in 2012? If so, keep it there.
Bourn reached base safely in three plate appearances on May 16 against the Rangers in another Colby Lewis start (2 hits and a walk). But, the last time that Michael Bourn had three hits in a game was September 21, 2014 against the Minnesota Twins, when he also went 3-for-5.
Roberto Perez: With Yan Gomes still rehabilitating his knee, Terry Francona does not want to play him in back-to-back games yet, so Roberto Perez will need to continue to be ready to contribute. With another run scored Wednesday, Roberto has now scored in five of his last seven starts and has reached base in each of his last eight starts, while registering a .286/.500/.571 slash line.
The Arms
Carlos Carrasco:
The lead for this recap was supposed to be about Cookie. Discussing how his 2015 season is not much different than his 2014 season other than on the fringes except his ERA has been disproportionately high compared to his peripherals. Thankfully, the Indians decided to destroy the Rangers on Wednesday and give me a new introduction. And, given that I was doing away with the introduction, I was able to locate a nicely written article by Mike Podhorzer at Fangraphs that updates much of my previous post on the minimal culpability of the Indians starting pitchers (specifically Carrasco).
For the game itself, Carrasco was in complete control throughout and had a nice line of eight innings pitched, five hits, one walk, one run (a Robinson Chirinos solo home run), and eight strikeouts, including striking out every batter he faced in the eighth inning.
Scott Atchison: Old Man Atchison was not sharp, but it did not matter. The two-run home run he gave up to Leonys Martin was not about to affect the outcome of this particular game.
- The season series with Texas is now complete, with the Indians and Rangers winning three games each. [↩]
5 Comments
Santa a getting hot and Carrasco coming around are the 2nd and 3rd most important thing for this team behind needing to improve on defense. These guys are awful to watch in the field.
According to Matthew Kory’s work at fangraphs the Tribe is historically awful. they rate as the 2nd worst defense in the last 65 years. Embarrassing.
http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a-bit-outside/story/cleveland-indians-defense-fielding-problems-record-worst-052715
The beer dispensers at the Corner Bar were broken again. Just distributing head, if you are down there and it happens to you, take it to the attendant and they’ll replace it. (kinks to be worked out).
Super fun game, really glad that the predicted storms held off until much later.
He makes a couple mistakes (like saying the Indians are committed to Bourn though Tito has now made him a platoon player), but overall a solid article.
best the Indians can do might be improving from historically awful to just bad
actually, that has happened in May. The Indians were 30th or 29th in all fielding categories at the end of April. through “bad but not awful” defense in May, they have risen to 26th in UZR/150, 26th in DRS. those are full season rankings, so May obviously is a bit better as they had to climb just to get there. it is a HUGE reason that the Indians are above .500 in May after their terrible April.
Apologies for not being more nuanced, but fangraphs does not allow for month-to-month sorting on fielding data (no idea why)
Good to see Santana coming alive this series. Don’t know what it is with the first 2 months (or so) of the season with this guy, but if his final 2015 numbers wind up being reasonably close to his 2014 totals, we’ve got a lot of production to look forward to.
Chisenhall? We’ll see. I’ll give him credit for the early, 2nd inning double, but 2 of his 4 home runs this season have come while the Tribe was already beating their opponents by 7+ runs (the other example was that Friday night blowout in Detroit). If that doesn’t sum up the kind of player Lonnie is, I don’t know what does. 🙂
And we still haven’t seen Brandon Moss on the type of extended tear he’s had in seasons past with Boston and Oakland. He’s had momentary power surges but nothing like the kind of week to two weeks that can legitimately carry an American League offense.
Add a part-time Swish and a full-time Raburphy platoon and this lineup may be lengthening before our eyes.
I don’t know…Murburn sounds so much cooler.