Right now, the Indians are a runaway train and the Tigers have been tied to the tracks.
Carlos Carrasco (9 INN/4 H/7 SO/1 BB) went the distance and the Tribe hit four homers, including Francisco Lindor’s first two-homer game of his career. Carlos Santana lead the game off with a homer, and if you’re the Tigers, you probably had that sinking feeling that has become all too familiar against the Indians. The hopeless feeling of being a bug versus a windshield used to be us when we faced these Tigers. But that script has seemingly been flipped, and now the Tigers are declawed housecats.
Anibal Sanchez’ (5 INN/5 H/4 ER/3 SO/2 BB) return to the Tigers’ rotation did little to soothe the nerves of Brad Ausmus as he was jumped on early 2-0 by Santana and Lindor. With the confidence and momentum the Indians have been playing with lately, you could sense that the game might have been over almost as soon as it began. The Indians were playing completely stress-free baseball today and with Carrasco looking every bit of the weapon he has become, it seemed like a foregone conclusion.
Which it was. The Tribe will look to make it nine straight against the Tigers, and nine straight overall tomorrow as Josh Tomlin and Justin Verlander.
But perhaps the Tribe had a little incentive to keep on truckin’. This was a quote from Thursday night:
Tigers reliever Kyle Ryan on facing CLE, who has won all 6 games vs. DET this season: "We're hot right now, and we're going to stay hot."
— Katie Strang (@KatieStrangESPN) June 23, 2016
I ain’t sayin’, I’m just sayin’.
W: Carlos Carrasco (3-2); L: Anibal Sanchez (4-8)
Fellow IPLer Vern Morrison was at the game today in Motown and he took a bunch of pictures on an absolutely gorgeous day. Enjoy!
Biggest suprises from this team so far?
For me personally, it’s simply how well they’re doing with Brantley mostly being a complete non-factor. It’s an easy, almost cop-out answer, but he’s our best hitter. Jose Ramirez’ breakthrough has been perfectly timed.
The combined ascensions of Tomlin and Bauer has also been a big help, which is big for me to admit. I’m not a guy who is very fond of Tomlin, but the results are the proof, so I’d be an absolute fool if I didn’t give him the credit he deserves.
And Dan Otero. I pegged him as Mr. DFA in May. Had no idea he’d be a guy who Tito could potentially trust as a late bridge to Allan considering the struggles of Shaw and McAllister.
The production from Jose Ramirez has been fantastic. I thought that our pitching could be this good but Josh Tomlin is particularly surprising. Mike Napoli has been everything and more. Lonnie Chisenhall is the perfect right fielder (world’s biggest fan right here). Francisco Lindor is my hero. Everyone else is playing at or above what we need, except Yan but his rapport is amazing.