CLEVELAND – Tonight the Indians start their three-game series with the Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field. Cody Anderson will be on the rubber for the Tribe matching up against Chris Sale for the Sox. After last night’s loss against the Royals, the Tribe are looking to bounce back and once again break even with the .500 mark.
Matchup: Indians (72-73) vs Chicago White Sox (69-76) 7:10 at Progressive Field – Game #146 Home Game #71
Pitchers: Indians – Cody Anderson (4-3, 3.68) vs White Sox – Chris Sale (12-9, 3.55)
Media: TV – SportsTime Ohio Radio – WTAM, WMMS, IRN
Pregame notes: Jason Kipnis, who’s currently batting .153 in the month of September, will not be in tonight’s lineup. Instead, Francisco Lindor, who currently holds a .315 average, will be batting in the lead off spot. Lindor has the highest qualifying marks by any rookie in Major League Baseball.
The White Sox have lost 6 of their last 10 games, but are 18-11 on the road since June 30th . Jose Abreu sports a .377 average in his last 13 games and Adam Eaton has a .382/.419/.588 line in his last 16 played. Sale is 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA vs Cleveland this season.
7:10pm- First pitch, 76 degrees on a lovely Friday night here in Cleveland.
7:18pm- After walking lead off man Adam Eaton, Cody Anderson gets the next three batters out to end the inning.
7:21pm- Francisco Lindor is awarded a single with a tapper that hardly found it’s way into Chris Sale’s glove as he charged forward. The Indians will need to take advantage of every opportunity tonight.
7:23pm- Before I can even finish the sentence, Mike Aviles grounds into a double play, and Michael Brantley hits a chopper to first to end the inning. 1-2-3 they go, we head to the second. Not a good way to start the game off, especially after going 4-14 with runners in scoring position just last night.
7:27pm- Tough break for Ryan Raburn out in right field. Makes a diving attempt but the ball hit by Trayce Thompson bounces off the warning track and over the wall for a ground rule double.
7:35pm- Carlos Sanchez safely reaches first on error by third baseman Aviles. Second baseman Jose Ramirez stops a ball hit up the middle and does a spin before throwing out Tyler Flowers at first to get the Indians out of the inning. The Tribe will have to tighten up the loose screws tonight as they cannot afford to get down early with Sale on the mound.
7:40pm- A very uneventful home half of the inning as the Tribe goes down 1-2-3 to end the second. Again, seeing a lack of discipline at the plate and the swings are just as ugly.
7:54pm- Uh oh. Eaton singles to right and Alexei Ramirez walks with no outs but Anderson keeps his cool and works himself out of the inning. Still scoreless.
8:09pm- WHAT. AN. INNING. Where to begin? Roberto Perez’s one out single followed by what should have been an inning ending double play ball hit by Ramirez elongates the inning thanks to an error by Sanchez at second. With two outs Aviles drops one in shallow center, scoring Perez. That was the second break of the inning for the Tribe, and they took the 1-0 lead. Brantley followed with a single to left, scoring Ramirez from second to put the Tribe up 2-0. Raburn drew a walk to load up the bases and that couldn’t have came at a better time. Carlos Santana belts one deep to the bleachers in left, clearing the bases for a grand slam, affectionately known by the Twitterverse as #Slamtana
Wow, what a beauty that was by Santana who really needed the big hit not for just himself, but for the entire club. It looks like the Indians set themselves up for success tonight punishing the Sox with a 6-0 lead. Note, all runs were unearned.
8:30pm- Melky Cabrera watches one clear the wall in right to put the Sox on the board cutting the Indians lead to 6-1 in the fifth.
9:00pm- A bit of action for both clubs but no one crosses the plate. Anderson stays in for the Tribe still working with the 6-1 lead in the top of the seventh.
9:03pm- Zach McAlister comes in to relive Anderson after a two out single to left from Abreu and gets the final out of the inning. Great job by Anderson giving the club some length after the bullpen got a lot of work in last night.
Final line on Anderson: 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 6 SO, 1 HR
9:11pm- Lindor goes yard in the seventh putting the Tribe up 7-1. The kid’s bat is scorching hot!
9:30pm- Sox finally make their move and Daniel Webb comes in to relieve Sale at the bottom of the eighth.
Sale’s final line: 7.0 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 9 SO, 2 HR
9:37pm- Indians load the bases up with a Perez single, Ramirez walk, and Lindor single. Aviles skips a ball between short and third to put the Tribe up 8-1. That’ll be the end of Webb’s night as Dan Jennings takes over with just one out and bases still juiced.
9:42pm- The Sox cannot escape the Tribe bats as Brantley knocks in another run pushing the Tribe up 9-1. The offense did more than just show up today, and hopefully they stick around all weekend because they’ll need it if they want to sweep the Sox.
9:50pm- It looked like the Indians were out there on a carousel tonight against the Sox. Jennings didn’t fare much better after walking in a run, and Chris Johnson singled to right center scoring two more before fanning Abraham Almonte to end the inning. Indians now lead 12-1 as we head to the ninth.
10:00pm- Ryan Webb in for the Indians to get the last three outs and close out the game. Indians win 12-1 and take game one over the White Sox and improve their record to 73-73. That’ll be all. Goodnight, Cleveland!
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