Cleveland Indians Even Series, Beat Orioles 11-4

The Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles by a score of 11-4 Saturday evening to even the series at one a piece. The Indians struck early and never relented to move to 26-21 on the year while the loss dropped the Orioles to 27-20. The Indians moved into first place in the American League Central as well, thanks to an improbable come-from-behind victory by the Kansas City Royals to beat the White Sox. The Indians are now 0.5 games ahead of both the Royals and the White Sox in the division. It’s the first time they’ve held sole possession of first place in the division since July 2nd, 2013.

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Indians starter Danny Salazar returned to his dominant ways against the Orioles. After his worst start of the year in Boston last weekend, Salazar went six strong innings allowing just two runs on six hits. He walked a pair and struck out five on the afternoon. Staked to a big league early, Salazar was able to cruise and rarely saw much trouble. The Orioles got their first run in the 5th inning on a sacrifice fly by Adam Jones. Their second and final run off Salazar came in the 6th inning when it appeared Danny was running out of gas a bit. Back-to-back doubles by Mark Trumbo and Matt Wieters plated a run, but that was all the O’s would get.

The Tribe’s bullpen struggled some in the 7th inning when Tommy Hunter allowed a pair of runs in just 2/3 of an inning, but Bryan Shaw was able to get the final out without any more damage coming around to score. Right-handers Zach McAllister and Austin Adams each worked perfect innings to close out the game. McAllister rebounded nicely with a pair of strikeouts in his inning of work, a nice recovery from last night’s outing when he allowed three runs in an inning of work and taking the loss. Danny Salazar moved to 5-3 on the year with the victory and now has a season ERA of 2.39.

The Indians offense welcomed Ubaldo Jimenez back to Cleveland with a four-spot in the 1st inning. After Carlos Santana and Jason Kipnis both reached to lead off the game, the Indians go some help from the Orioles’ defense as Mike Napoli reached on an error by Pedro Alvarez at third base (one of four by the O’s on the afternoon) that scored a pair. The Indians added two more on an RBI single by Yan Gomes, who lead the team with three RBIs on the afternoon and went 2 for 5. The Indians then added two more in the second inning, knocking Jimenez out after just 1 2/3 innings. The loss also dropped Ubaldo to 2-6 on the season for the Orioles.

The Indians added another five runs off the Orioles’ bullpen, scoring once in the 3rd, once in the 5th, twice in the 7th, and once more in the 8th. In fact, the only innings the Indians did not score a run were the 4th and 6th innings. On the afternoon, the Indians had 13 hits and five walks, while they only struck out five times. The only starter that did not record a hit was Kipnis, though he did walk once and scored the second run. The Indians also added four stolen bases on the afternoon as Napoli, Santana, Jose Ramirez, and Lonnie Chisenhall all had one.

The only bad news for the Indians came in the 5th when starting right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall as lifted for a pinch hitter. Michael Martinez replaced Chisenhall who left the game with “blurred vision” after smacking his head into an O’s defender as he slid into second base with a double to lead off the bottom of the 3rd. It was Chisenhall’s second hit of the game (and amazingly the only extra base hit the Indians had on the day), but after two innings in the field, the Indians felt he needed to be removed. It’s too early to say for certain how long Chisenhall could be out, if at all, but the concern over a possible concussion is real given he hit his head and the blurred vision. Hopefully, the Indians get good news on Chisenhall, and he won’t have to go on the 7-day concussion DL.

Next: Clevelinks: Indians Keep Winning Despite Injuries, Salazar's Repertoire

Despite the injury and 22-minute rain delay late in the game, the Indians were all smiles as they bounced back from yesterday’s loss with a big win. The Indians and Orioles will go at it again tomorrow afternoon in the rubber match. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 pm. The Indians will send out rookie Mike Clevinger (0-1, 8.71) while the Orioles will counter with Chris Tillman (6-1, 2.61 ERA). Clevinger could be making his final start with the Indians for a while as Carlos Carrasco is making a rehab start tonight for the Double-A Akron Rubberducks and could be back with the Tribe sooner rather than later.

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