Bourn again

June 3, 2014

Life is pretty good when the weather is perfect and your favorite baseball team is on a winning streak! The Indians made it five wins in a row tonight, beating the 2013 World Champion Boston Red Sox by a score of 5-3 at Progressive Field. And as is fitting on Michael Bourn Bobblehead Night, it was Bourn himself who had the biggest hit of the evening. His double to deep left center in the seventh inning drove in two runs and broke a 3-3 tie.

Bourn has been on somewhat of a tear lately. His ninth-inning homer gave the Indians a walkoff win over the Rockies last Sunday, and yesterday he went 2 for 3 with a triple and two runs scored. Tonight he was 2 for 4 with 2 RBI.

The Indians got to Red Sox starter Jake Peavy early, as the first five batters they sent to the plate each reached base on singles, giving the Indians a 2-0 lead with the bases loaded and no outs. This is where you can really do damage to the starting pitcher, by hitting him hard early in the game and putting the opposition into a deep hole. But Peavy, a 13-year veteran, is not easy to knock out of the box. He got the sixth batter, Ryan Raburn, to hit into a double play. That brought in another run, but it gave Peavy and the Red Sox some breathing room.

Peavy bore down after that, allowing only two more hits over the next five innings. After starting the seventh inning by giving up a walk and a single, Peavy was removed in favor of Andrew Miller, who gave up the double to Bourn.

Indians starter T. J. House pitched well, giving up two runs over 5 2/3 innings. Although the initial relievers were a little shaky, Nick Hagadone and Cody Allen were nearly flawless, each pitching 1 1/3 innings without allowing a run.

The Indians pitchers did a great job of keeping Boston DH David Ortiz from being a factor in the game. Ortiz went 0 for 4 with one intentional walk. And guess what? The Indians defense was pretty good tonight too, turning a double play and committing no errors. Yes, that’s right. No errors! Apparently it can be done.

Tonight’s win takes the Indians to within one game of .500. They can reach that mark and sweep the series by beating the Red Sox in the series finale tomorrow. Corey Kluber will pitch for the Tribe, so I like our chances. I’ll be watching the game from a seat in the bleachers, and eating a Dollar Dog or two. Okay, three or four. Tops.

3 Comments

  • Wyatt says:

    The Tribe is hitting its stride at last. Only a couple weeks ago they stunk at every aspect of the game, but now they’ve turned things around fully 180 degrees. They’ve eliminated the countless errors, the offense scores in more than one inning per game, and the pitching staff is everything you could ask for. The season has become fun again.

  • Jeremy says:

    The Bourn Identity, or the Natural Bourn Thriller, was certainly back in effect last night. What a hit! As Vern noted, he’s on some kind of tearing hitting in 15 of his last 16 games and raising that average almost .50 point; now up to .299.

    So right about Peavy. He’s lost velocity, but he’s still a veteran pitcher who knows how to collect himself and he showed that in innings 2 through 6 last night. He’s struggled lately so that was why we needed to jump on him when we did.

    How ’bout the season Lonnie freaking Chisenhall is putting up? If he keeps doing this someone’s going to have to come up with a nickname! He’s seeing the ball better then we’ve ever seen him see it! ha.

    On the Red Sox’s side, that Xander Bogearts looks like a heck of a ball player right? I said the same thing about Arbeu when we saw him early in the season. Two different players, but those guys both look like future stars to me. It kinda sucks with Abreu because right when Paulie K was on his way out and done terrorizing the tribe, this guy pops up and starts mashing Cleveland pitching. We missed him last time but we’ll probably see him again during that last series before the break.

  • Susan Petrone says:

    Watch your back up there, Mary Jo.