Cleveland Indians: 3 takeaways from the Indians 4-1 win over the Cubs

After an ugly loss on Tuesday night, the Cleveland Indians rebounded to send the Cubs home with a 4-1 loss on a big night in Cleveland.

It was certainly a night to remember in Cleveland. LeBron James did what he does best, and beat the Pacers on a three point buzzer beater to take the lead in the series 3-2. This Indiana based writer has no opinion on that game.

Something much more important happened just a few yards away from Quicken Loans Arena. The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago Cubs. The game was close and well pitched aside from a few homers allowed by Jon Lester. We even got to see Francisco Lindor and Javier Baez have some fun.

In the end the Tribe came out on top and the teams split the two game series 1-1. They will meet again at Wrigley Field in May to finish the season series out. Here are the takeaways from tonight’s meeting.

Trevor Bauer was dominant, once again.

After last night, it’s easy to forget just how good the Cleveland Indians rotation really is. Yes, Josh Tomlin and his horrid starts are part of that rotation. But so is Trevor Bauer, and tonight he was phenomenal. Bauer pitched 6.2 innings with a season-high eight strikeouts. On top of all of that, he didn’t even have his usual catcher behind the plate. Yan Gomes was calling the game instead of Roberto Perez; who usually catches for Bauer.

In the end Bauer got his second win on the year, and allowed only one run off of four hits. Bauer now has a WHIP of 1.11 this year and he is only getting better. In the two losses for Bauer this season he had only one run in support from his offense. As long as the offense is clicking, Bauer could be looking at another 10+ win season.

The long ball wins the day again.

After going down 1-0 in top of the fifth, the Indians answered immediately. Brandon Guyer hit his  first home-run of the season to tie the game up at one. Francisco Lindor and Edwin Encarnacion followed that up with a pair of home-runs of their own.

This is not a new formula by any means for the Tribe. They have seemingly lived and died by the long ball on days when the offense isn’t clicking.

On Opening Day they died by the long ball, since then they have learned to make a living off home-runs. The Indians have collectively hit 25 home runs so far this year. Thanks to their incredible pitching, that has been enough to keep them at 13-9 and at the top of the AL Central. At some point this offense full of proven hitters will come alive, but until then it is fun to see the team winning from the long ball.

Andrew Miller left the game with an apparent injury.

I could talk about how Encarnacion looked pretty good tonight, or how Tyler Olsen and Nick Goody pitched incredibly in relief. We can just talk about happy things. We don’t have to talk about how Andrew Miller only threw two pitches before leaving the game after grabbing his hamstring in the sixth inning. Miller threw just two pitches to Anthony Rizzo. On the second pitch he grabbed the back of his leg and walked off to the clubhouse.

While it is only hamstring tightness, (and that is much better than what it could have been) it is likely Miller may miss some time. Even if it is not severe, the Indians will likely give him a few nights off. At the worst he could be placed on the 10 day DL. Regardless, Olsen and Goody will have to continue to step up if Miller will miss time.

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The Cleveland Indians will stay home this weekend to take on the Mariners for the final time this season. That series will start Thursday at 6:10 PM and last until Sunday.