Paced by Mike Napoli‘s 24th home run of the season (and his 1,000th career hit) the Indians added more misery to Sonny Gray‘s dreadful season en route to a 8-0 victory over Oakland.
The sweep of the A’s doesn’t mean much given the struggles of the A’s this season, but it couldn’t come at a better time.
The Indians attendance has been dreadful this season (29th out of 30 teams in average per game) but this weekend should energize the fan base.
Between Friday’s fireworks, Jim Thome‘s Saturday induction into the Indians Hall of Fame, Sunday’s trade for Andrew Miller and the sweep of the A’s, this was an all-around great weekend for baseball in Cleveland.
Sunday’s attendance was only just over 23,000—in line with the season average. But the cumulative effect of the weekend hopefully drives more fans to the park in the coming days and weeks. This team is clearly here to stay (barring any major injury setbacks) and it’s more fun for everyone to watch the Tribe win in a packed house.
Other notes and thoughts…
The 7-8-9 hitters were 5-8 with three walks, two RBI and five runs scored. Tyler Naquin has obviously been producing down there for much of the season, but it’s great to see Abraham Almonte and Roberto Perez get in on the action as well.
Corey Kluber‘s advanced stats have been consistent all season, which is why many fans weren’t worried when his ERA was a little higher than we’re used to seeing early this year. Sure enough, he’s settled in just fine (he tossed seven scoreless on Sunday). Since the All-Star break Kluber has posted a 1.29 ERA with 23 K in 21 innings and just six walks. Make no mistake about it, he’s still the ace of this staff.
Carlos Santana is in a slump right now, going just 1-18 on the current homestand. He was red hot immediately following the All-Star break, so it’s too soon to worry about him, but this is a situation worth monitoring. As Naquin continues to crush right-handed pitching, the Indians might eventually consider moving him up in the order, either replacing Santana at the top or moving Jason Kipnis to No. 1 and putting Naquin in Kipnis’ spot.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Indians latest acquisition, I posted a mini scouting report on Miller on Twitter. He’s a very unique pitcher who generates a ton of strikeouts without actually throwing his fastball by hitters (check out that low whiff rate on his fastball). He’ll definitely be fun to watch the rest of this season and into the future.
Here's the scouting report on Andrew Miller pic.twitter.com/X9uu8W8kvj
— Ryan McCrystal (@TribeFanMcC) July 31, 2016