Putting the bitter taste of the blown save behind them, the Indians ended a solid 5-1 homestand against the Royals and Tigers with a 5-3 win Wednesday afternoon at Progressive Field.
Trevor Bauer was dominant, taking a no-hitter into the fifth inning to move to 6-6 on the season. He struck out 12 Royals batters in going 6.2 innings.
The offense was paced by homers by Jake Bauers, who returned to the lineup after missing a pair of games with an ankle sprain, and Tyler Naquin who clubbed his sixth homer of the year in the fourth inning.
It’s the last game at Progressive Field until after the All-Star break for the Tribe, as they will head to Baltimore, Kansas City and Cincinnati to wrap up the first half.
Here’s a couple quick takeaways from the win.
1. Bauer’s Big Day
The Indians starter wound up throwing a whopping 127 pitches on a day when it was easily in the mid-80’s with humid sunny skies, but he hung in and held Kansas City to just one run as the Indians built a 5-1 advantage.
Bauer recorded a season-high 12 K’s against the Royals who seemed overmatched most of the hot afternoon.
The Tribe pitcher also threw his way into the team’s history books, as he passed Luis Tiant for 12th in franchise history in strikeouts (1,043) with his punch out of Lucas Duda in the 7th inning.
Bauer didn’t allow a hit through the first 4.2 innings before allowing a single to Humberto Arteaga in the 5th, and managed to allow just the single run to get his first home win since all the way back on April 4th (eight straight games at home without recording a win).
2. Lindor Sets the Table
The Indians all-world shortstop had a great day at the plate going 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored. Lindor is hitting now .298 on the season.
It was Lindor’s 23rd multi-hit game of the year, his 3rd in his last four games, and his 5th with 3-or-more hits this season.
Lindor had a big homestand, hitting .346 (9-26) with four doubles, and since May 26th is hitting .319 (39-122) average with 11 doubles and 23 runs scored.
3. Wittgren’s Issues
The Indians reliever came into the game leading 5-1 in the 9th, and proceeded to allow a pair of runs and had the tying run at the plate before striking out White Merrifield to end the game.
Lately Wittgren has just been giving up way too many baserunners and runs. In his last five trips to the mound he’s allowed five runs in six innings.
The team has relied on him and for the most part he’s come through when needed, but going June 18th against the Rangers he’s had his issues, and you have to start to wonder if the team is going to look elsewhere late in games.
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