Cleveland Indians: 3 sweeping takeaways from 12-2 victory over Detroit

The Cleveland Indians are riding a heat wave in mid-June. They had won six in a row and looked to make it seven. They didn’t have to look far as they swung their way to the victory, 12-2.

The Cleveland Indians current win streak is nothing compared to the one in 2017. However, it does help them continue to pull away in their weak division.

The Detroit Tigers will be glad to get out of Cleveland after being outscored 26-3 and being swept this weekend.

The Indians stormed back into Cleveland to the tune of a 7-2 record and a seven-game win streak. They have outscored opponents 60-24 in that span along with two shutouts.

Here are some things that stood out today in the win:

Plutko wasn’t perfect, but didn’t need to be

Adam Plutko was not as dominant as the others have been but he got the job done. He finished with six innings pitched, six hits, two earned runs and four strikeouts.

Plutko does not have dominant stuff in his repertoire but he does have good location. He was able to get a lot of groundball outs and limit any damage Detroit tried to inflict.

Plutko is doing a good job filling in for an injured Carrasco. With Carlos eyeing a return sooner than later, it seems Shane Bieber will be battling Plutko for the fifth spot.

Top of the lineup comes up huge

The top of the Indians lineup is one of the best in all the majors. Today they showed just how potent they can be when all clicking together.

Francisco Lindor, Michael Brantley, Jose Ramirez and Edwin Encarnacion lit up Tiger pitching. The four combined to go 11-for-18 with two doubles, three home runs and 10 RBIs.

The lineup’s production was capped by Edwin Encarnacion’s grand slam in the eighth inning. Below is a tweet I sent out just seconds before the pitch to Edwin:

And make them pay he did! Edwin had to have taken opponents being careful with Ramirez to get to him personally. He unloaded all his aggression on one pitch and finished blowing the top off today’s win.

The rest of the lineup contributed as well adding another eight hits for a 19-hit day as a team. Jason Kipnis had a solid day going 2-for-3 with a walk, home run and two runs scored.

Bullpen continues to do their job

Yes, that is right, two days in a row of positive bullpen takeaways. Don’t you just love it?

Dan Otero, Oliver Perez, Neil Ramirez and Josh Tomlin (yes, THAT Josh Tomlin) combined for three no-hit, shutout innings of relief.

Once again we see Perez and Ramirez complement each other to provide security and trust for Terry Francona. It is nice to see the front office didn’t listen to everyone and trade the entire farm for a whole new bullpen in April.

The struggle was real, especially in May, but patience may have paid off and the Indians shuffling of the bullpen may be starting to show promise.

Miller coming back healthy and effective can only send this bullpen further into being a good unit once again.

Next: Trevor Bauer needs to be in the 2018 All-Star Game

The Indians ride their seven-game win streak into St. Louis to face the Cardinals for three games starting tomorrow. They then travel to Oakland for a three-game set against the A’s followed by a three-gamer in Kansas City to end the road trip.