Cleveland Indians Walk Off As Winners In Cody Anderson’s Fantastic Debut

Sunday’s game against the Rays was a quick one for the Cleveland Indians, as prospect Cody Anderson made his starting debut against Tampa Bays’ Alex Colome. Anderson was amazing, allowing just five hits and a walk in 7.2 scoreless innings, with four strikeouts. Colome was even better, giving up only one hit and two walks over seven innings as he traded zeros with Anderson.

Key Moments
There was only one key inning in this low-scoring game, and that was the bottom of the ninth inning. Roberto Perez singled to get things started, and Jason Kipnis followed with a hit of his own. Kipnis took second on defensive indifference, which allowed the Rays to walk Michael Brantley to load the bases. With one out, David Murphy hit a sacrifice fly to center field. Kevin Kiermaier caught the ball and rifled it home to try to throw out Perez, who had tagged and was coming home to score. Catcher Curt Casali couldn’t hang on to the ball as the two briefly collided, and the Tribe walked off as 1-0 winners, preventing a series sweep.

The Positive
Anderson’s debut was impeccable. No one was expecting him to come up and throw nearly eight scoreless innings with ease, and he did it against a very good Tampa Bay lineup. Marc Rzepczynski and Cody Allen each recorded scoreless outings of their own, but Anderson was by far the star of the show.

The Negative
Just because the Tribe won doesn’t mean they’re suddenly hitting. The Tribe had just three hits all game, which means their offense is still struggling for whatever reason.

Check It Out
– Kipnis has now hit safely in his last 16 games, which is an incredibly streak. Among AL hitters, he trails only Cabrera in batting average, and he is fourth overall in major league baseball.

– Tomorrow, Trevor Bauer will take on Kyle Ryan and the Tigers. Ryan is 1-1 with a 3.26 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 19.1 innings pitched this season. Bauer, who pitched seven strong innings against the Cubs last week, is 6-3 with a 3.22 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 81 innings. Bauer’s ERA is largely due to one bad outing, so he’s actually much better than he appears.

Next: Indians Call Up Cody Anderson