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

The Cleveland Indians came into the day riding a five-game win streak. They did everything to stay hot and came away with the 4-1 victory for six in a row.

The Cleveland Indians are heating up with the weather here in mid-June. They came in winning five in a row against their own division.

The team has seen the starting rotation dominate much like recent years. The offense also showed its own firepower scoring 10-plus runs in back-to-back games to pair with two shutouts from the pitching.

The starting staff is steamrolling opponents and the offense is thanking them in runs. The five-game win streak has seen the Indians outscore opponents 41-7.

Here are some things that stood out today as the Indians won their sixth straight game, 4-1 against Detroit.

Trevor Bauer continues his hot streak

Trevor Bauer saw this start get off to a rocky beginning. After striking out the first two batters, the bases became loaded on a walk, a single and a hit batter. Bauer dug deep and struck out James McCann to end the inning.

Bauer then settled in to toss another gem of a start. He finished with 6.1 innings pitched, five hits, one earned run and 11 strikeouts.

The start marks Bauer’s seventh start with at least 10 strikeouts this season. Had it not been for the rain delay in his last start, he could have set an Indians record with his sixth straight 10-plus strikeout start.

Bauer trims his season ERA to 2.44 and now sports a 7-5 record. He also now has a 4-0 record against Detroit this season.

Offense delivers yet again

The offense has ridden a hot streak as previously mentioned, outscoring opponents by a wide margin and producing support for their staff.

While you cannot expect them to score double-digit runs every day, that would be nice wouldn’t it? As it turns out, four was enough to get the job done today.

The lineup delivered with runners in scoring position today also. As a team they finished with a 3-for-6 mark in that department.

Bullpen works 2.2 scoreless innings

I know, I know, Indians and bullpen are not two words we like to hear together this year. However, this news is good, I promise!

Oliver Perez, Neil Ramirez and Cody Allen combined for 2.2 scoreless, no-hit innings pitched to lock in the win. The trio also combined for five strikeouts in the effort.

This is a sight for sore eyes as the bullpen has given up multiple run leads to blow games several times this season. These three may be the best three healthy arms in the pen at this point.

Andrew Miller is obviously the best arm in the pen when healthy but he is currently shelved. Perez and Ramirez look to have settled in somewhat to help stabilize the bullpen.

Bullpen success is going to allow Terry Francona to feel confident when taking out starters. They will not have to push guys a little further than they want to with a trustworthy pen.

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

The Indians look for the sweep tomorrow afternoon. A sweep would be their second in a row but they have at the very least secured their second series victory in a row.