Cleveland Indians Trounce Reds; Sweep Two-Game Series

Cleveland Indians Trounce Reds Again and Sweep Series

The Cleveland Indians once again trounced the visiting Cincinnati Reds, this time by a score of 13-1. Over the past two nights, the Indians outscored the Reds 28-7 in route to sweeping Cincinnati in the two-game home set. The win moves the Indians to 19-17 on the year while the Reds dropped to 15-24.

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The Indians sure didn’t need a good start from Danny Salazar, but boy did they get it. In 7 1/3 innings, Salazar gave up just one run on five hits and one walk while striking out eight Reds hitters. As great as that stat line was, it marked the first time all season that Salazar allowed more than four hits in a start, breaking his record setting streak to open the year. The lone Reds run came in the 7th inning when the Reds got a trio of singles before a sacrifice fly scored former Indian Brandon Phillips. Finishing off the game for the Tribe were relievers Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen, who mostly just needed work despite the blowout score. Each worked scoreless outings with Shaw finishing off the 8th for Salazar, and Allen pitching a scoreless 9th.

The victory for Salazar moved him to 4-2 on the season with a sensational 1.80 ERA. In fact, Salazar has been one of the best starting pitchers in the American League to this point ranking third among qualified starters in ERA (1.80), FIP (2.63), K/9 (10.98), and fWAR (1.6) as calculated by Fangraphs.  The only real blemish for Salzar this season has been the walks as he has been averaging about four walks per nine innings. He’s been able to overcome those thanks to having arguably the best changeups in the Major Leagues this year. Pretty amazing for a guy that was supposed to only be the team’s third best starter…

Offensively the Indians took it a bit easy on the Reds and starter Alfredo Simon. Instead of putting up another season-high 15 runs and 19 hits, the Tribe “only” scored 13 runs on 17 hits.  As in Monday’s game, the entire Tribe starting lineup recorded at least one base hit. Carlos Santana, Francisco Lindor, Mike Napoli, Lonnie Chisenhall, and Rajai Davis each reached base at least three times.

The Indians first got on the score board in the 2nd inning on a two-out RBI single by Davis that scored Yan Gomes. The Tribe never looked back, scoring three more two-out runs in the 2nd before scoring three more in the 3rd. The Indians then put the game away in the 5th inning when the Reds pitchers decided that they were allergic to throwing strikes. Reds reliever Steve Delabar replaced Simon and proceeded to walk five of the six batters he faced, including four in a row to force in three runs. Before anyone knew what happened, the Tribe was up 12-0 by the end of the 5th.  Finally, just for good measure the Tribe added a 13th run in the 6th on an RBI single by Mike Napoli, scoring Davis for the fourth time on the night.

Next: Indians Option Anderson; Plan to Recall Clevinger

The Indians and Reds will now head down to Cincinnati for a quick two-game series between the two clubs at Great American Ballpark. The Indians will send out Mike Clevinger, making his Major League Debut in tonight’s game the Reds will counter with left-hander Brandon Finnegan. First pitch is schedule for 7:10 pm as the Tribe looks to claim another Ohio Cup Series victory.