Cleveland Indians: 3 takeaways from the 7-3 win vs. Baltimore

The Cleveland Indians offense kept it going from Saturday’s 4-0 win. The offense put up runs to support Corey Kluber who had a human outing.

The Cleveland Indians came in looking to take a series lead over the Baltimore Orioles before the series finale on Monday night. The offense came off a four-run showing in the 4-0 victory Saturday and put up runs again today.

Corey Kluber came in and had a human outing after a dominant start to the season. He gave up two home runs to Manny Machado in their first two face-offs but finished strong, just not in normal Kluber fashion.

Indians score runs without depending on home runs

Cleveland came into the outing scoring over 50 percent of their runs from the long ball. This is not a good omen as the saying goes, “live by the long ball, die by the long ball.”

The Indians offense has stumbled out of the gates at a very inconsistent pace. That showed signs of changing today as the Indians got a few hits with runners in scoring position.

Home runs are nice and everyone loves to watch a majestic 400-plus foot bomb leave the yard. However, offenses need to be able to produce outside the long ball.

The Tribe hit 3-for-13 today with RISP and that is nice to see after most of their runs coming as homers. They totaled 14 hits and seven runs in today’s contest.

The Tribe needs to build on the success from today as they end April and enter May. The weather is warming up and they will need to help their pitchers and score runs each night.

Corey Kluber is indeed human

Corey Kluber came into the game allowing no more than two earned runs in any start this season. He gave up one run in the first and another in the fourth off two Machado home runs.

The Orioles also scored another run in the fourth after Adam Jones doubled and Chris Davis singled to right field.

Kluber marched on in normal Kluber fashion. He finished the day after going seven innings, giving up three runs on six hits and striking out four.

Kluber did have a good game but it was not the typical Kluber outing. He did not rack up the strikeouts and gave up the two solo shots to Machado.

It was not a disastrous outing for Kluber but it showed he is, in fact, human. The outing was still good and helped the Tribe stay in the game and eventually win 7-3.

Tribe shows resiliency

The Indians went down immediately after Machado’s first home run. They bounced back in the fourth putting up two runs of their own.

After going up 2-1, they found themselves down again just a half inning later after the Orioles put up two runs of their own.

The Indians then regained the lead in the fifth after a Rajai Davis walk and a wild pitch got him to second. Lindor then drove in Davis with a single.

Ramirez then walked and the good doctor, Michael Brantley, sent Lindor home on a single to right center.

The Indians kept fighting back in a very back-and-forth ballgame to take the lead twice. This is promising as far as the offense heating up and scoring when they need to score.

This kind of resiliency is what the Tribe has been lacking. The home runs are nice to see but hitting well with RISP is key to any offense thriving in the 162-game gauntlet.

Jose Ramirez also hit a two-run home run and Yan Gomes doubled off the wall in the ninth to score Yonder Alonso for a three-run inning. This created separation for Cody Allen to close out the game and take a 2-1 series lead.

Next: Should Salazar come back to a rotation spot?

The Indians will look to win the series 3-1 tomorrow night before heading home. They will return to The Land on Tuesday to take on the Cubs for the first time at Progressive Field since Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.