With 9 innings in a ballgame, teams have ample opportunity to score. Sometimes teams look like they’re asleep for the first 8 innings and then suddenly awake up in the 9th to win the game. That’s very exciting, and scoring only in the 9th inning can win a ballgame–just look at the Indians’ win in the opener on Monday. But scoring only in the 9th inning can sometimes mean you’re too deep in the hole to come back–just look at the Indians’ 6-1 loss in the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader. And that’s just frustrating. The Indians finally remembered that they’re allowed to score before the 9th inning. It took a few games, but in the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader against the A’s, they put up runs in the 4th, 7th, and 9th innings to take the series from Oakland with a 6-4 win.
This was a good and necessary win (only 87 more to get to reach my prediction, guys!). Mike Aviles put the Tribe on the board first with a two-run homer in the 4th inning–the Indians’ first home run of the year. The other runs came on good situational hitting. In the 7th, Michael Brantley grounded out but managed to score Jason Kipnis (who had two stolen bases on the night). In the 9th, Brantley singled to score Kipnis and Ryan Raburn, and David Murphy’s sacrifice fly scored Carlos Santana.
Some bad things about this win:
- Zach McAllister looked terrible. He gave up 3 earned runs and 4 walks in 4 innings. Granted he had 4 strikeouts, but he just didn’t have the control.
- The Indians had runners in scoring position in the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th innings and failed to score. In total, they were 2-13 with runners in scoring position left 11 runners on base.
Some good things about this win:
- The Tribe had 9 hits and drew 7 walks with only 4 strikeouts. So they’re starting the hit the ball and showing some discipline at the plate. Without any genuine power hitters, they’re going to have to do this every day.
- Both Mike Aviles and Michael Brantley made third outs with runners in scoring position. And both of them came back later to redeem themselves with multiple RBI. Instead of investing in all those guys named Dave in the off-season, maybe we should have picked up another Mike or two?
This is a win I don’t think we earn last year — this team grinded it out, kept the game close and broke through when it mattered.
Winning (even if it’s only to lose in a Wild Card game) breeds success. I can see a certain maturity in this team that was not quite present in 2013.
The other really good things about this win were Eye Chart and continued clutch play down the stretch.
Eye Chart: He comes in and pitches 2 1/3 with no hits, a BB, and 2 Ks. Tremendous and kept us in the ballgame with a chance to win. Tremendous and amazing that he’s continuing where he left off last season. Great sign
Clutch: For awhile there, I thought the misplay in Center was going to cost the Indians. However, a BB, a steal and a couple of base hits later and we’ve got the lead. It’s been said over and over, but last season the Indians were 30-17 in 1 run ball games. I don’t know whether being down 1 in the 9th qualifies, but that’s about as clutch as your gonna get.
Typical: Final thought before I leave; Was I the only Indians fan half expecting Pomeranz to look like a world beater and start mowing down Indians hitters left and right? Am I a pessimist or did other Indians fans have the same thought?
I believe the other word for “Indians fan” is “pessimist”.
“We just lost the opener of the doubleheader 6 to 1. Its the end of life as we know it.” 😀
HAHA…..so basically, by being just a tad pessimistic, I was acting like an average die-hard Indians fan! lol
Lets be honest here – the traffic on this board is much higher when the Indians are losing than winning… There’s posters on here who pretty much disappear when the Indians are a winning streak! 🙂
Being a Cleveland sports fan is not for the weak of heart.
Seems that the folks who wrote Major League had us pinned down rather accurately in Randy Quaid’s character. Nay saying at the first sign of struggle, but only being so pessimistic because secretly our entire happiness is dependent upon how the Tribe fares on any given day.
wow, that 7th inning was tough to watch. have to agree with Jeremy that scrabble saved our bacon in that game. thank god we have today off, to give our bullpen a break after the eggs kluber and mcallister laid.
I apparently skimmed your comment first, and my eyes caught “eggs” “Break” “Kluber and McAllister laid”
…and I was really curious as to where that metaphor was going.
But yes, I agree that Scrabble was key. Also Cody Allen has to be leading MLB in wins right now, right?
Nah,Jim Johnson was the key…………to the series for that matter.
Eggs, bacon, break, scramble…err scrabble…sounds like a breakfast post! lol. I’m just thankful for the day off because those late night west coast games make for a rough morning
A series win with a negative run differential. Ah, but a win’s a win.
To me, the key was hitting w/ RISP. The Indians are already 6th in the AL in runs scored (despite the feeling that they didn’t score much), 8th in batting average & OBP. But they’re 12th in slugging (which is to be expected) and 12th in runners stranded (5.00 per game).
I don’t mind the lack of power hitters, as long as they’re getting hits when guys are on base. A team can work with one or the other. If the Indians don’t have a lot of power (which we know they don’t), they at least need to get hits when they have guys on base.
Woo hoo! Kipnis just signed a six-year contract. Great job FO. Now if Masterson would just come off of that $17M number.