Lonnie Chisenhall’s Historic Night Leads Tribe to Win

Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Chisenhall’s 3 homers and 9 RBIs Lead Charge Against Rangers

In a slugfest against the Texas Rangers, Lonnie Chisenhall stood out.  His legendary performance will be one that he remembers for the rest of his life, and gave Cleveland fans yet another reason to be optimistic about the Tribe’s playoff hopes, and their future in years to come.  He tied the franchise record for most RBIs in a game, and became the first player in baseball history to have five hits, three home runs and nine RBIs in a game while not recording an out.  Michael Brantley made 5 trips around the diamond, walking twice and recording three hits while scoring all five times.  Asdrubal Cabrera and Jason Kipnis also had 3-hit games, while George Kottaras added his third solo homer in as many games for the Cleveland Indians.  The result of this brutal game was a 17-7 win over a Rangers team that came into the series with the same record as Cleveland.  The victory pulled the Indians within 2 games of first place in the AL Central, as the Detroit Tigers fell to the White Sox in the same night.

The Positives

Lonnie Chisenhall, Lonnie Chisenhall and Lonnie Chisenhall.  We all knew we were seeing a breakout season from him, but I don’t think anybody expected this kind of performance.  His slash line now sits at a ludicrous .385/.429/.615, and he’s only a few plate appearances away from qualifying for the batting title.  Count him among players that the Tribe will be desperately trying to extend this offseason.  Michael Brantley made up for an 0-for-5 night last night by reaching base and scoring in all five of his trips to the plate.  John Axford looked great, striking out 3 in two scoreless innings.  Scott Atchison and Josh Outman put up zeroes as well.

The Negatives

TJ House had a tough day.  He may have just been off, or he may have had Zach McAllister‘s rehab start on his mind, but the results were just not good.  He’ll get another opportunity at the big league level, but it remains to be seen whether or not that’ll be in five days.  Carrasco gave up a homer in the only inning he pitched.  And Carlos Santana took another step backwards, going 0-for-5 with two strikeouts on a day when the Rangers’ pitching staff was clearly not sharp.  Jason Giambi also went 0-for-5 and struck out three times.  He needs to hit more than just the occasional home run to justify being in the lineup every other day.

Check It Out

-The Indians have won 9 of their last 10 games, and have gained 8.5 games worth of ground in the division race in the past three weeks.

-Chisenhall’s 3 homer game is a feat no Indians player has accomplished since Shin-Soo Choo in 2010.

-Chisenhall now has 25 RBIs in his past 19 games.

-Michael Brantley’s 10 homers ties his career high for a season.  There are still 98 games left to play in 2014.

-George Kottaras is the first Indians player to homer for his first three hits of the season since Juan Francisco in 2001.