Cleveland Indians: 3 takeaways from an exciting 4-1 win in Detroit

The Cleveland Indians picked up an exciting win over the Detroit Tigers on a night when a lot of the focus in town was on a basketball game.

The Cleveland Indians won on Friday night. So there you go Cleveland, something to be excited about.

On a night when the Cavaliers season came to a disappointing end, Jason Kipnis played hero for the Indians. Just another normal day around these parts.

The win also helped the Indians in the division, helping increase the lead on what was supposed to be a lowly Tigers team.

Here is a look at what stood out from the 4-1 victory over the Tigers.

Bauer is dominant

Trevor Bauer gave up a run in the first inning. He wouldn’t allow another run the rest of his eight total innings pitched.

Bauer struck out 12 batters in eight innings on a whopping 113 pitches. His ERA is now down to 2.62 and he has emerged as a likely candidate to sneak into the All-Star Game. Although another month of performances like this and he won’t exactly sneak in.

Bauer only had one run of support through these eight innings but he never faltered. It was his third straight start with at least 11 strikeouts as he moved up to No. 4 in the American League in strikeouts with 109 on the year.

Kipnis comes up big

We have talked about Jason Kipnis’ struggles often so far this season. One hit doesn’t change much, but it did result in a win and perhaps a boost in confidence for the veteran.

Kipnis went 1-4 in the game but his ninth inning home run was enough to lead the Indians to victory. His average now sits at .206 but at least this one hit helps give some validity to keeping him in the lineup.

Whether or not he can use this as a springboard to improve on offense remains to be seen.

The bullpen doesn’t blow it

The bullpen only had to pitch one inning in the win, and Cody Allen kept things cool and calm with a scoreless ninth. He walked a batter but struck out two to pick up his 12th save of the year.

The play of both Oliver Perez and Neil Ramirez have brought some stability to the struggling group, and Allen’s simple save helps ease fans’ minds after so many bad outings from the bullpen.

Next: Ranking Terry Francona among the team’s best managers

The Indians now own a five-game lead over the Tigers with two more games to play this weekend. This could be the time when the Indians start to really pull away in the division and with Mike Clevinger and Corey Kluber on the mound this weekend, the odds are in the Indians’ favor.