Cleveland Indians: Dominating Game Two Has Tribe on Brink of Advancing to ALCS

The Cleveland Indians now have a commanding 2-0 lead over the Boston Red Sox in the ALDS. How did it happen?

For the second consecutive game, the crowd at Progressive Field gave a standing ovation as the starting pitcher walked off the field, but on Friday it was not the Cleveland Indians the fans were cheering for. Boston Red Sox starter David Price received the applause after being pulled in the fourth inning of a 6-0 Tribe victory that sends the team to Boston with a commanding 2-0 lead.

Cleveland once again used a big inning and dominating pitching to hold the Red Sox down, and have an opportunity to move on to the American League Championship Series with just one more win.

Here’s how the Indians won the day once again.

CHISENLAZER!

The big knock in this one came off the bat of Lonnie Chisenhall, who sent a 2-1 fastball from Price screaming into right field in the bottom of the second. The ball, which reached an apex of just 43 feet (the second-lowest trajectory for a home run in MLB this year) and left the bat at over 106 miles per hour, ricocheted off a plexiglass barrier protecting a television camera above the top of the fence.

“I don’t remember too much running around the bases,” he said. “I remember seeing it go out and I knew it was a home run, so I slowed down pretty quickly. It was a quick run around the bases.”

There was a lot of chatter on social media prior to the ballgame about Chisenhall’s presence in the lineup against Price because of the lefty-on-lefty matchup. Those advancing the argument pointed to the fact that Lonnie Baseball slashed just .217/.294/.348 against left-handed pitching in 2016, but left out the fact that he’d had only 52 plate appearances in such situations.

The TBS broadcast also beat a dead horse with their “analysis” that it was his first home run against a lefty in over a year, but didn’t bother to look into just why Cleveland manager Terry Francona might have him in the lineup, which was his career 4-for-12 mark against Price, which included a home run.

Chisenhall also battled the sun and shadows to make several quality defensive plays on sharply hit balls to right, and is a far superior defender to Coco Crisp, who was the other outfield alternative for the lineup.

KLUBOT!

A mild strain of the right quadriceps and 10 days off from pitching in a game situation appeared to have little effect on Indians’ starter Corey Kluber, who gave the club the kind of performance that most would expect from a former Cy Young award winner and contender for this year’s honor.

In 7 shutout innings, the Klubot was set to DESTROY, as he yielded just three hits and three walks while striking out seven. The start from Kluber came a day after the Tribe bullpen contributed 4.1 innings, and top arms Cody Allen and Andrew Miller had thrown 40 pitches apiece. Cleveland needed to give its big bullpen guns a day to rest, and its ace delivered.

“We talked before the game about, ‘Would he be a little bit rusty or would he be really good?'” Francona said after the game. “I think he answered that question.”

Kluber’s performance stands in stark contrast to that of Price and Rick Porcello, the odds-on favorite to win the Cy Young this season who took the loss on Thursday night. The Red Sox one-two starting pitching punch combined to allow 10 runs on 12 hits in just 7.2 innings of work (11.74 ERA), including the first career postseason home runs to Chisenhall, Roberto Perez, Jason Kipnis, and Francisco Lindor.

Cleveland is paying Kluber and Game One starter Trevor Bauer less than $7 million combined this season, while Price and Porcello collectively cost more than $50 million. Someone in the Indians’ front office deserves a raise after the comparative value of these first two postseason games.

CLEVELAND AGAINST THE WORLD!

Prior to the game, the Tribe introduced LeBron James and a handful of other players from the World Champion Cleveland Cavaliers (it still feels surreal to type that), and as one would expect, the sellout crowd at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario went crazy.

James, microphone in hand, delivered a short soliloquy about he and his teammates being there to support the guys in the Cleveland dugout. He finished up the hype session with a “Cleveland Against the World,” which is just about the most beloved soundbite in the city that, until June, was known as an eternal underdog that always fell short.

Next: 3 Reasons the Tribe Will Beat Boston

Through two games at home, not only did the Indians claim a 2-0 lead in the series with Boston, but they outplayed the Red Sox in every facet of the game, and did it in front of a hometown crowd that was as loud as any at Progressive Field since the late 1990s. The Tribe is now in the driver’s seat in the ALDS, and has a chance to follow the lead James and the Cavs set out just a few short months ago.