The meeting of the Indians and Yankees on Friday night was one of those games where glancing away from the action even for a couple seconds meant you might miss a lot. There were passed balls and balls bouncing off of players and off the ground. Despite all the bouncing and weirdness, the Yankees only had one error and had 11 hits versus the Indians’ 8 hits. However, the Tribe ended up with more runs, and that’s all that matters.
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First off, who knew Carlos Santana could run so fast? I mean, who knew he could score from first on an Austin Jackson line drive to left that Yankees 3rd baseman Todd Frazier couldn’t quite get to but left fielder Clint Frazier grabbed and threw back in a hurry? Santana made a quick head-first slide into home to score Cleveland’s first run. The play at home allowed Jackson to scurry over to 3rd (he was given a double on the hit). Jackson scored on a passed ball by New York starting pitcher Jaime Garcia, who was making his debut as a Yankee.

Brandon Guyer started the 3rd inning with a solid single to left (the Tribe really put former Indians prospect Clint Frazier through his paces). Michael Brantley followed with a single to right. While Guyer was sliding into 3rd, right fielder Aaron Judge‘s throw hit him and bounced into the seats along the 3rd base line. What else is a guy supposed to do but run home? 3-0 Indians. Jose Ramirez grounded out but moved Brantley to 3rd. Edwin Encarnacion made it 4-0 with a sacrifice fly to right. Small is beautiful, especially small ball.

The Yankees made some inroads in the top of the 5th on a solo home run by Todd Frazier, making it 4-1. There were signs of danger when the Yankees had runners on 1st and 3rd with only one out. Clint Frazier hit a high bouncer to 3rd. Giovanny Urshela jumped and snagged the ball out of the air and threw a strike to home plate before he hit the ground. Ronald Torreyes was out at home. Bauer had Aaron Judge at an 0-2 count then walked him, loading the bases. After a lot of nail biting, he struck out Gary Sanchez to end the inning. Bauer pitched a fine game, giving up 7 hits and only 1 run over 7 innings. He walked 2 and struck out 7 (because seven seems to be his number tonight).

Urshela made another magnificent defensive play in the 6th. Matt Holliday hit a hard grounder that Urshela stopped with a long diving catch. He made a from-the-knees throw to 1st for the out. Urshela made his major league debut in June 2015–the same month as Francisco Lindor, and was. a bit overlooked in the Francisco Frenzy While he’s always been strong defensively, Urshela’s hitting has been inconsistent. I’ve been glad to see him back up, even temporarily. I keep hoping he’ll be like Jose Ramirez, who also had to make a side trip back to Columbus before he came back and started hitting everything in sight. Urshela went 2-for-3 tonight. If he has more nights like tonight, maybe this will be the trip the Show that sticks.

Cleveland scored again in the 5th. Brandon Guyer walked then stole 2nd. He later scored on Michael Brantley’s single to left, making it 5-1. Brantley was the beneficiary of some of the bouncing balls. He moved to 2nd on a wild pitch, then to 3rd on a Jose Ramirez ground out. Ramirez was the last batter to face Yankee starter Jaime Garcia. Reliever Chad Green didn’t fare much better. On the first batter he face (Edwin Encarnacion), he threw a wild pitch that scored Brantley from 3rd. 6-1 Indians. A pair of doubles from Jose Ramirez and Edwin Encarnacion scored one more in the 8th.

The Yankees scored one more in the 9th, but it seemed more like a little gift from the Tribe than a threat. Final score: Indians 7, Yankees 2.

1 Comment

  • Jimbo says:

    I also like Urshela–I’d rather see him stick with the team than the rotating squad of utility guys (Gonzalez, Robertson, Martinez) that the Tribe has used so far this year.