The offense goes on two-week vacations, and Cleveland’s defense sometimes springs leaks.
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Over the past two months, though, the Indians have been able to count on one thing: Corey Kluber has been nearly flawless.
Monday night’s 1-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins in 10 innings wasn’t easy on any front for the Cleveland Indians.
Minnesota Twins’ Brian Dozier rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run off Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Josh Tomlin during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016, in Cleveland.
Rajai Davis had 3 hits and 3 RBI, including his 12th homer of the season.
Kluber (15-8, 3.09 ERA) was strong again, allowing three earned runs on six hits and striking out 11 in eight innings pitched. In 10 starts since then he is 7-0 with a 1.94 ERA.
Indians manager Terry Francona removed Allen, who threw 37 pitches.
The Twins, who haven’t won since August 17, hurt themselves with eight walks and they didn’t score after the second inning. The Twins, who have lost five one-run games in the stretch, dropped 13 straight in 1961 and a team-record 14 consecutive games in 1982.
“It’s been a long week”, manager Paul Molitor said. “You’ve just got to tip your hat to a guy like that”. You can feel it.
Right-hander Perci Garner, who was promoted from Triple-A Columbus prior to the game, made his major league debut to start the ninth inning.
Dozier led off the game by hitting Tomlin’s first pitch an estimated 430 feet into the bleachers in left-center field for his 31st home run.
The AL Central leaders sent pitcher Colt Hynes to the A’s for Crisp, who began his career with Cleveland in 2002. The 2014 Cy Young Award victor, who followed up an 18-win season by losing 16 past year, struck out four of the first six batters and carried a 7-1 lead into the eighth, when Dozier tagged him for a two-run homer.
Two teams that combined to score one run in 10 innings Monday combined to score eight runs in the first two innings Tuesday.
In typical fashion, the stoic Kluber downplayed his performance, which took some pressure off a exhausted bullpen.
“I mean if you’re looking to criticize him, you’re going the wrong direction”, Francona said.
“I thought I pitched smart today and got out of some tough situations”, he said.
“It was good to get out there and get some quick innings early and get ahead of them and pounded the zone and was able to go pretty deep”. After the Twins tied it at 1 with a solo home run by Max Kepler, Santana answered the Twins with a solo shot of his own in the fourth, his 28th of the season, which marks a career-high for a single season.
Tomlin leads the majors in home runs allowed with 34, and seems certain to break the Indians’ franchise record for most homers allowed in a season.
The Indians don’t have a clear plan, yet, of how to handle Tomlin’s skipped start.
DH Joe Mauer was 2-for-5 on Tuesday. It’s my fault. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m anxious to back here tomorrow and try to figure it out. He’s eligible to be activated on September 16.
Twins: Ervin Santana, the subject of trade rumors in recent days, will open a four-game series at home against the Chicago White Sox.
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Even with Tomlin’s struggles, the Indians (75-56) now own a four-game lead over the Detroit Tigers (72-61) for first place in the American League Central Division standings heading into tonight’s series finale with the Twins.
