Cleveland Indians Bats Come Alive in 10-3 Win Over Los Angeles Dodgers

After two consecutive one-hit shutouts, the Indians’ offense roared back to life against the Dodgers on Tuesday night, defeating LA 10-3. Justin Masterson endured another rough outing, lasting just over three innings and allowing three runs on seven hits and three walks, although he did strikeout seven batters as well. Dodgers’ starter Josh Beckett gave up five runs during his five innings of work, walking one and striking out five.

Jul 1, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Cleveland Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis (22) reacts after Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig (66) is picked off at second base in the last out of a triple play in the fourth inning of the game at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Key Innings

Top of the 1st, tied 0-0
The Indians grabbed an early lead in Tuesday’s game. Asdrubal Cabrera singled to right field and scored on an RBI double off the bat of Michael Brantley. Lonnie Chisenhall followed with a deep drive to the right field seats to make it 3-0 in favor of the Tribe – a lead that the Indians refused to relinquish for the rest of the night.

Top of the 6th, Indians lead 5-3
Although the Dodgers fought back, the Tribe continued to add additional runs. In the sixth inning, Jason Kipnis led off with a walk. Back-to-back RBI doubles from Yan Gomes and David Murphy tacked on two more runs to the Tribe’s lead.

Top of the 8th, Indians lead 7-3
Kipnis and Nick Swisher lead off the eighth inning with a pair of singles, before Gomes hit an RBI double to right field. Murphy followed with an RBI hit of his own, before Carlos Santana grounded into a run-scoring double play.

The Positives

Vinnie Pestano came on in the fifth inning with two on and nobody out, then gave up a single to load the bases. He promptly followed with two huge strikeouts against Drew Butera and Hanley Ramirez, then turned the ball over to Marc Rzepczynski, who struck out the final batter of the inning. It wasn’t the only bases-loaded situation the Tribe escaped without damage – LA loaded the bases three times in the first five innings, only to strand all nine runners. The offense was potent as well, with every batter except Michael Bourn accumulating at least one hit, and Murphy having a three-hit night.

The Negatives

The Indians made another error, and Masterson struggled again. Although the bases-loaded escapes were impressive, the fact that the Dodgers were able to have so many hitters reach base in the first place is definitely a concern.

Check It Out

– The Tribe turned a rare 7-2-4 triple play in the fourth inning, starting with a catch by Michael Brantley. The left fielder fired the ball home, where Yan Gomes applied the tag to the speedy Dee Gordon, then threw to second to nab Yasiel Puig as he tried to take advantage of the play. After two separate reviews – Terry Francona challenged the original safe call at second base and won before LA argued the out call at home plate and lost – the play was upheld and the Tribe escaped a tricky situation.

– Gordon, who was thrown out while trying to tag and score, leads all of baseball with 40 stolen bases.

– After defeating Oakland at home on Tuesday night, the Tigers have won eight of their last ten games, while the Tribe has won just three.