CHICAGO – It’s probably not enough to ease the pain of the Indians heartbreaking 2016 World Series loss to the Cubs, but a two-game sweep of the Chicago’s north side squad is a nice early season boost for Cleveland. The Indians followed up Tuesday night’s 10-1 drubbing of the Cubs with a more tightly contested 1-0 victory on Wednesday.
Making his first career MLB start, Adam Plutko was masterful for six innings as he handed it over to the bullpen in the seventh holding a 1-0 lead and two runners on base. Chicago’s threat would not come to pass, however, and the one-run lead stood through the final out.
The win pushes Cleveland back above 500 for the season at 24-23, as they also took three-of-four against the Cubs this season. Next is a four-game set against the defending World Series champion Houston Astros back in Cleveland, but before that showdown begins, here are some takeaways from Wednesday’s victory.
1) Nearly a no-no for Plutko
24 hours ago, Adam Plutko was suiting up 140 miles south of Cleveland as a member of Columbus Clippers. On Wednesday, he was making his second career MLB start as the fifth man in the Indians rotation, opposite of Jon Lester and the Chicago Cubs. If he was phased at all, it didn’t show.
Plutko spun six innings of no-hit baseball for the Indians, quieting the Cubs bats as he struck out four and walked four. All that while trying to hold down a mere 1-0 lead for his team. Things got a bit dicey when Anthony Rizzo led off the seventh with a no-hitter busting double down the right-field line. Wilson Contreras followed it up with an infield single and suddenly Plutko’s night was over with runners on the corners and no outs. Chicago wound up squandering their best scoring opportunity (thanks largely to Andrew Miller, which we’ll get to) and the bullpen kept Plutko in line for the win. He got it an improved to 2-0 on the season, having earned his first win back on May 7.
With Josh Tomlin being shifted to the bullpen, Plutko has made his case for remaining as the Indians fifth starter.
2) Miller rounding into for
Andrew Miller’s return from the DL came just in the nick of time for Cleveland. The bullpen has been a disaster throughout the first quarter of the season aside from Miller and Cody Allen. Still, prior to this Cubs series, Miller too looked like a liability.
In his first three post-disabled list appearances, Miller surrendered three hits and four earned runs in just an inning and two-thirds of work. Naturally though, when things got sticky for Plutko in the seventh, Terry Francona wasted no time turning it over to his workhorse reliever in a one-run game.
With runners on the corners and no out, Miller managed to work through the jam, getting Javier Baez dribble a bunt back to the mound and then throw out Rizzo at the plate. He went on to struck out Addison Russell looking on a nasty pitch and induced a groundout from Jason Heyward to get it to the eighth. He’d record two more outs in the bottom half, including another strikeout, before Allen slammed the door from there.
Seeing Miller rounding back into form is an encouraging sign for the Indians. Now if they can just get him some assistance.
3) How Sweep it is
It may have only been a two-game series, but the Indians sweep of the Cubs is just their second sweep of the season thus far. Their first came in the form of a four-game disposal of the Detroit Tigers back in April. It’s also their first series win of the season against a team that is currently above 500, which is obviously a bit alarming for a squad with World Series aspirations. With four games at home against the Astros coming up, the Indians would certainly like to see some momentum from this sweep carry over into the weekend.
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