Cleveland Indians Trounce Angels 14-4 Thursday Night

The Cleveland Indians trounced the Los Angels Angels on a rain-soaked Thursday night game by a score of 14-4 to take the series opener. The Indians scored early and often and not even multiple rain delays could slow the offense down as they moved to 64-48 on the season. They increased their division lead to four games as the Detroit Tigers were idle last night. The Angels fell to 49-65 on the season and have now lost seven in a row as they remain in last place in the American League West.

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Tribe starter Corey Kluber wasn’t his sharpest, allowing three runs in six innings of work, but was more than good enough to pick up his 12th win of the season. He did have to contend with a rain delay in the bottom of the 4th inning, but despite only allowing four hits walked a pair and struck out just three on the night. The Angels got to him in the top of the 1st inning thanks to a solo home run by superstar Mike Trout. It was his 22nd home run of the season and make it 1-0 Angels. Cliff Pennington took Kluber deep with a solo blast as well in the 3rd inning, hitting his 3rd home run of the season after the Tribe scored seven unanswered. The final run Kluber allowed came in the 5th inning on a double play groundout.

Jeff Manship, fresh off the disabled list, worked a scoreless 7th inning while Zach McAllister did the same in the 8th inning. McAllister has now recorded three straight scoreless innings as he looks to turn his season around. Kyle Crockett worked the 9th inning for the Tribe, allowing one run, though easily holding on to the big lead.

Tribe Offense Erupts

The Tribe offense came out of the gates on fire against Angels’ starter Jhoulys Chacin who fell to 3-8 on the season. Carlos Santana led off the bottom half of the 1st with his 25th home run of the season, tying the game at one. It was the start of a five-run inning with Lonnie Chisenhall  delivering the big hit, three-run double making it 4-1 Tribe. Tyler Naquin added the fifth run on a sacrifice fly and giving the Tribe the early 5-1 lead. The Indians added two more off Chacin in the 2nd innings on a RBI single by Francisco Lindor and a RBI double by Mike Napoli, which made it 7-1 Tribe after two.

The Indians didn’t slow down once the Angels’ bullpen came in, scoring one in the 3rd inning on a RBI single by Jason Kipnis and two more in the 4th inning on doubles by Chisenhall and Abraham Almonte, making it 10-2 Indians after just four innings. The Tribe then put the finishing touches on the offensive outburst with back-to-back home runs by Napoli and Jose Ramirez in the 5th innings making it 14-3. It was Napoli’s 29th home run of the season while Ramirez hit his 7th. Every member of the starting lineup recorded at least one hit except Tyler Naquin while Napoli went 4 for 4 and coming a triple away from the cycle.

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There was a big scare in the bottom of the 5th inning as Carlos Santana had to be helped to the clubhouse after taking a line drive foul ball to the head off the bat of Francisco Lindor. The Indians announced it as a head contusion after the game so hopefully Santana is back in the lineup quickly. The Indians and Angels will be back at it tonight at Progressive with game two of the four-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 pm as Carlos Carrasco (7-6, 3.17 ERA) will take on left-hander Tyler Skaggs (1-0, 2.04).