The Indians had to work a little harder Wednesday night to earn a win at Comerica Park against the rival Tigers, but no matter how they did it the team was able to get away with another ‘W’ against Detroit with a 4-2 win.
Jason Kipnis led the offensive charge with a pair of homers, three now in the last two games, and Aaron Civale went seven innings of impressive ball in the starter spot for the Indians.
The Tribe with the win pushes their mark back to 23 games over .500 at 78-55, and they are still in a dogfight with the Twins for the top spot in the AL Central.
The good news is they still lead the AL Wild Card with now just over a month of ball left, and it looks like it will be a race to the finish for both the division and the wild card by the time September comes to a close.
Here’s three quick tidbits from the latest win over the Tigers in Detroit.
1. Kip on Fire
While Franmil Reyes got a lot of the pub for his game-tying homer Sunday and three-run blast Tuesday, on this night the power bat belonged to second basemen Jason Kipnis.
Kip hit a pair of homers, one to make it 1-0 Indians, and the last to make it a 4-2 game and give the team a huge run to give them a cushion.
On the season Kipnis has 16 homers and he’s hitting .251, which is great considering where he was when he finally able to get off the injured list early in the season.
Every night it feels like someone comes through in the clutch, and this night it was ‘Dirtbag.’
Jason Kipnis has 2 HRs tonight.
Jason Kipnis is seeing the ball well.
A is because of B.#RallyTogether pic.twitter.com/WNVuYBwfCo
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) August 29, 2019
2. Solid Civale
Aaron Civale had a very good night on the mound to push his mark to 2-3 on the season, going seven innings, allowing runs on six hits, no walks and six K’s.
Just like Adam Plutko on Tuesday, he was able to hold Tigers batters at bay, and while the Indians offense didn’t give him the run support they did Plutko, he was able to keep it tied until Frankie Lindor untied it with a homer in the 8th.
Once again like most of the Indians starters as of late, he gave the team a good chance to win, and you have to give him credit for another solid night, even setting a record as you can read about below from Indians.com’s Mandy Bell.
Aaron Civale's night is done. His final line:
7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 5 Ks, 1 HR
He becomes the 10th Major League pitcher (and first for the Indians) since at least 1908 to toss at least 5 2/3 innings and allow 2 runs or fewer in each of their first 6 career appearances as a starter.
— Mandy Bell (@MandyBell02) August 29, 2019
3. Toying with the Tigers
How much has this been a lopsided series in 2019? How about the fact that the Indians have won 14 of 15, and now 13 straight dating back to a loss in the second meeting of the season back on April 10th.
In the 13 straight wins, the Tribe has simply pounded Detroit, outscoring them 89-29. That’s just complete domination from both the offense as well as the pitching staff.
The two teams will meet four more times, starting with the finale on Thursday afternoon, and then three more in the middle of September in Cleveland.
It would be something to see the Indians win 18 of 19 this year against Detroit, but just like Terry Francona always says, it’s one game at a time, starting with the finale on Thursday before a huge weekend series in Tampa against the Rays.
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