“Whaddaya mean, Tribe wins again? They lost the day before!”

Oh, hush, you. Just appreciate Sunday’s win over the Chicago White Sox for what it was.

Indians starter Carlos Carrasco didn’t have his best stuff, but he kept the Indians in the game long enough for Terry Francona to turn the game over to the best bullpen in baseball. And as is almost always the case, that bullpen did not disappoint. The mighty triumvirate of Andrew Miller, Bryan Shaw, and Cody Allen combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings, and the Indians prevailed, 4-2.

A Tribe run in the second inning, combined with two more in the fourth, gave Carrasco a 3-0 margin early on. For the first five innings, Carrasco looked good. But he ran into trouble in the sixth. After retiring the first batter, he hit Sox slugger Jose Abreu with an errant pitch, then gave up consecutive doubles to make the score 3-2. With the game on the line, Francona did not hesitate to call for Miller, who put out the fire and also contributed a scoreless seventh inning. A double by Francisco Lindor gave the Indians an insurance run. Shaw pitched a scoreless eighth, and Allen did the same in the ninth.

The Indians are off on Monday, their third day off in the last eight days. I hope they enjoy it, because beginning on Tuesday, when the Los Angeles Dodgers come to town, the Tribe will play 23 games over the next 21 days. At the end of that run, we’ll be able to see what this team is made of.

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