1. Bauer Power
If you came into Thursday doubting Terry Francona’s decision to have Trevor Bauer pitch Game 1 instead of ace Corey Kluber, you may want to heed that Trust in Tito mantra for the rest of the Postseason.
Bauer pitched about as well as the team could have asked him to in Game 1, giving up just two hits and one walk while striking out eight in six and two-thirds innings of work. The Yankee batters went just 2-for-22 against Bauer, the lone hits coming from Aaron Hicks in the sixth inning and Starlin Castro in the seventh.
“I think the staff did a tremendous job coming up with a game plan,” Bauer said after the win. “Roberto called a heck of a game. I executed well, got away with some pitches. So, I had some fortune on my side tonight.”
“I thought he pitched his heart out,” Francona said. “I thought, when the moment arose, he attacked it. He embraced everything that was thrown at him tonight. His poise was tremendous. I mean, all the way around, he attacked the strike zone with all his pitches. He pitched in enough to get those big strong guys from getting extended, and he had a great breaking ball.”
Coming into Game 1, Bauer said he was going to continue to do what he’s done all season, attack the zone. He definitely stayed true to his word:
His efficiency will likely prove to be invaluable later on in the series, as Francona did not have to over-tax his bullpen in the first game.
Bauer’s five and one-third innings long no-hitter also gives him the longest no-hit bid in Cleveland Postseason history, but Bauer said the no-hit bid did not register while he was on the mound.
“The mindset was to go out there like a closer in the first inning and put up a scoreless inning at all costs,” he said. “And then if I was still in the game, do it again in the second inning and the third and on until I was taken out of the game. So no-hitter, ten hitter, or whatever, that was the mindset. I never really strayed from that.”
Bauer can be as nonchalant as he wants, but if you were wondering, the previous record of four innings was set by Bob Feller in Game 1 of the 1948 World Series.
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