There’s nothing like hanging out and watching a ballgame on a Sunday afternoon. Add in that it’s the last game before the All-Star break and, just to spice things up, make it the last of a four-game series against the visiting Yankees, and you have the ideal conditions for a perfect day.
The Indians did not disappoint. Indians starter Trevor Bauer went 7.0 innings, giving up two runs, one walk, and striking out seven of the dreaded Yankees. Things weren’t all that hopeful for the first four innings. The Yankees scored one run in the 3rd, when Aaron Hicks singled in Brett Gardner, and one in the 4th on a solo home run by Neil Walker.
I will admit to a moment or two of worry early on. Going into the bottom of the 4th, the Yankees were up 2-0. The Tribe sent only 10 batters to the plate in the first three innings, with nothing but a single by Jason Kipnis to show for it. Things changed when Michael Brantley led off the bottom of the 4th with a walk off Yankee starter Masahiro Tanaka. Like Bauer, it was the only walk he gave up all day. Unlike Bauer, it didn’t come back to bite him in the rear end. After the walk, Tanaka struck out Jose Ramirez then gave up a two-run dinger to Edwin Encarnacion, tying things up 2-2.
Brantley later scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the 8th on a solo homer off of Yankee reliever Chad Green, putting the Indians up 3-2. Green got the worst of it, hitting Encarnacion with a pitch and then intentionally walking Kipnis to load the bases. Yan Gomes immediately made the Yankees regret this decision with a sacrifice fly to right that scored Jose Ramirez from 3rd. With Tyler Naquin batting, Green threw a wild pitch that scored Erik Gonzalez from third. There’s nothing like scoring on the dreaded Yankees on a wild pitch, and there’s nothing like a 5-3 win on a gorgeous summer afternoon.
See you after the All-Star break.