The Aftermath: Three Takeaways from the Indians' 6-5 Win Over Miami
The Cleveland Indians’ season of magic continued on Sunday with another last at-bat winner.
With this Cleveland Indians team, it’s really never over ‘til it’s over. For the ninth time this season, the Tribe won in a walkoff, scoring three runs in the bottom of the ninth against Miami Marlins’ closer Fernando Rodney to secure a 6-5 victory and a three-game series sweep. It was the 13th sweep of the season for the Indians.
Rodney entered the game with a 5-3 lead, and proceeded to walk three of the first four hitters he faced. Then with two outs, he gave up a game-tying two-run single to Jose Ramirez and a game-winning RBI single to Lonnie Chisenhall.
Cleveland improved to 79-56 on the season, and saw its lead in the American League Central Division remain at 5.5 games over second place Detroit.
The Indians’ bullpen, which has been electric since the acquisition of Andrew Miller at the trade deadline, had a game it would like to forget, squandering a lead in the final two innings.
A two-run, two-out single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh by Jason Kipnis against Kyle Barraclough gave the Indians a 3-2 lead and had the crowd at Progressive Field going nuts. But Marlins’ catcher J.T. Realmuto drove a solo home run into the left field bleachers in the top of the eighth off Tribe reliever Bryan Shaw to tie things up, breaking a 17-inning scoreless streak for the righty.
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A pair of doubles by Miguel Rojas and Ichiro Suzuki against Miller gave the Marlins a 4-3 lead, and a sacrifice fly by Martin Prado off Cody Allen extended it to 5-3.
The late inning theatrics obscured what had been quite the impressive pitchers’ duel between Cleveland’s Danny Salazar and Miami’s Tom Koehler, who combined to allow just one run between them in 11.2 innings.
The Marlins had the early lead in this one, just as they did on Saturday night, but once again proved unable to hold on to it.
In the bottom of the third, Miami’s Derek Dietrich, a Cleveland St. Ignatius product, doubled down the third base line to lead off against Salazar, and after a walk to Chris Johnson and a wild pitch, the Marlins had two runners in scoring position with nobody out. First baseman Carlos Santana then fielded a chopper off the bat of Miguel Rojas and made the questionable decision to throw home, a choice that was unsuccessful.
Dietrich would have been safe ahead of the throw regardless, but the ball got away from catcher Chris Gimenez, allowing Johnson and Rojas to both move into scoring position and put Salazar behind the eight ball. The 26-year old righty beared down, though, retiring Ichiro, Jeff Francoeur, and Martin Prado, the last two via the strikeout, to limit the damage.
One day removed from handing Miami ace Jose Fernandez his worst loss of the season, though, the Indians could not figure out Koehler. The 31-year old right-hander threw six scoreless innings, allowing just three hits, striking out six, keeping it a 1-0 game.
The Marlins tacked on an unearned run in the top of the seventh against Tribe reliever Dan Otero thanks to an uncharacteristic error by Francisco Lindor. An RBI single by Prado that scored Rojas took advantage of the miscue and the inning’s extra out to put Miami ahead 2-0 before the late-inning tug of war began.
The Right Man at the Plate
Ramirez was 4-for-5 on the day, raising his slash line for the season to .310/.364/.459, and it just seemed like his being at the plate with two outs and the tying run in scoring position in the ninth was preordained by the universe.
On the year, Ramirez is now 7-for-13 with two outs and runners in scoring position in what FanGraphs categorizes as high-leverage situations, driving in five runs. In all two-out, RISP situations, the 23-year old is hitting .393 (22-for-56) with 25 RBIs, placing him among the best in all of baseball.
One shudders to think where the Indians would be without Ramirez this season, as his clutch hitting coupled with his ability to play effective defense all over the field have saved the day on several occasions. A pretty solid argument can even be made that he has been the most valuable everyday player on the team in 2016, ahead of even Lindor and Kipnis.
Strong Signs from Salazar
This marked the second consecutive quality start for Salazar after a stint on the disabled list and a couple of nightmare outings. He went 5.2 innings, allowing just the one run on six hits and two walks, striking out 11, which matched his career-high.
Last time out, Salazar gave up two runs on five hits and two walks in 5.1 innings of work, striking out 10. These two outings come on the heels of two starts in which he yielded nine runs on nine hits and six walks with just three punchouts in five total innings after coming off the DL.
Salazar is incredibly important to the Cleveland starting rotation as the race for the Central Division crown comes down the home stretch of the season and a potential postseason appearance looms. If the all-star can continue to build off these starts and develop the sort of consistency he showed in the first of half of the year, it will provide a big boost for the Indians.
Bring on the Robo-Umps
We joke a lot about umpires and how Statcast and PITCHf/x technology will eventually render them obsolete, but once in awhile there is a performance from an umpire that actually makes that seem like a fine idea. Sunday’s head-scratching effort from crew chief Joe West behind the plate was one such instance.
Social media was alight with grumbling, commentators on the game’s broadcast made several references to the inconsistency of the strike zone, and on multiple occasions, batters had words for the veteran umpire. In an age where statcast gives instant feedback on pitch location to anyone with an internet connection, the “human element” that has for so long been revered as a vital part of the game is beginning to wear out its welcome.
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