Cleveland Indians: A quick look back at last night’s win over Baltimore

The Cleveland Indians handled business by taking the lead on the Baltimore Orioles early and not letting go of it as the Indians won 2-1.

The streak continues for the Cleveland Indians! They won their sixth straight game last night and continue to play red-hot baseball. It wasn’t as easy as some of their other wins recently, but they can’t all be blowouts. The pitching staff was fantastic as they took care of business against the lowly O’s.

Things got started with Carlos Carrasco continuing to look like his regular self. It’s critical for Cookie to pitch like this with Trevor Bauer sidelined. Carrasco looked like he knew as much when he pitched a seven inning beauty without surrendering any runs and allowing just three hits. He worked himself out of a few jams and it was cool to see him show some emotion out there.

For Cookie, it was business as usual as he earned his 15th win on the year. That ties the team lead for wins with the teams’ ace Corey Kluber. Speaking of business as usual, Jose Ramirez hit his 37th homer of the year, tying the Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez for the MLB lead. Ramirez was responsible for the only two runs the Tribe scored, and thanks to Carrasco’s gem it was all they needed.

But, what was perhaps the best part of the game was that the #FreeYandy squad got a chance to celebrate a little. Yandy Diaz was finally included in the lineup, and continued to add to his already impressive run of hitting. Seriously, does he have to hit .800 to stay in the lineup every day? At least we got a glimpse of his impressive at-bats last night, and I’m sure manager Terry Francona noticed.

Another thing that every fan noticed was the performance of the Tribe bullpen. The group that has often been the bane of the Indians’ existence for much of this year has been on a roll lately. Better late than never, and better at this time of the year with the playoffs right around the corner.

Andrew Miller has been remarkable since his return and it’s just what the team needs. He was responsible for the lone run Baltimore scored last night, but he is still pitching lights out; and as we know, he works best under pressure.

Speaking of pressure…. and anxiety….. and stress.. Cody Allen got the save in last nights’ outing. Cody Allen, as you may know is solely responsible for 90% of panic induced heart attacks in northeast Ohio. I made that up, but you know what I mean. Regardless, he has been dynamite lately with 4.2 innings pitched in the last week and no runs allowed. That was the case last night as he wrapped things up keeping the streak alive for the Indians.

It was certainly a game to be proud of, while the offense wasn’t as effective as you’d like them to be; it’s good to know we can always rely on Jose Ramirez to get the job done. 16 of JRam’s 37 homers have come with two outs in the inning, showing that he refuses to let the inning die without giving the Indians something to work with.

The team will be back at it today at 4:05 PM EST with Adam Plutko on the mound making his first start since his return from Triple-A.