Indians Win 7-4 – Cleveland Continues Their Perfect Day

Here’s a familiar story: The Cleveland Indians fell behind before coming back to win the game. Sure, it was just the second inning when the Tribe was down 2-0 on Friday night against the Chicago White Sox, and Cleveland immediately countered Chicago’s runs with two of their own in the bottom of the inning with a David Murphy home run, but a comeback is a comeback. In fact, the game was full of back and forth scoring, as the Indians would answer the White Sox in each inning. When Chicago scored another run in the 4th to make it 3-2 Chicago on an Adam Eaton double that scored Leury Garcia, the Indians scored in their half of the frame on when Carlos Santana scored on a bases loaded walk to Chris Dickerson by White Sox starter Hector Noesi. Adam Dunn would homer off of Corey Kluber in the top of the 5th, only to be outdone in the bottom of the inning when the Indians scored three runs, highlighted by a two-run bomb by Nick Swisher. Michael Brantley would score on an RBI-double by Santana in the bottom of the 7th to complete the scoring, as the Indians went on to win 7-4.

Corey Kluber allowed four runs over six innings (just the 4th time in 20 starts that he has allowed more than three earned runs) to improve to 9-6 on the season. Hector Noesi fell to 3-7 while lasting 4.2 innings, allowing six earned runs for the White Sox. The Tribe bullpen was solid once again, as John Axford, Bryan Shaw, and Cody Allen each tossed a scoreless inning, with Allen earning his 11th save by striking out the side to finish things off for Cleveland.

Positives

– LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron.

– .310/.333/.720…three home runs, nine RBI – Nick Swisher over his last seven games, which includes a seven-game hitting streak. Bro is heating up!

– Yan Gomes walked twice in the same game for the first time since September 7, 2013. That was 97 games ago. He has now walked as many times as he has in all of 2013 in 20 fewer plate appearances. Move over Joey Votto, the Brazilian God of Walks is taking over.

– Down on the farm, Clint Frazier went off:  

Negatives

– Even with the win, the Indians remain 7.5 games out thanks to the Tigers beating the Royals on Friday night.

– After going 7-for-15 (.467) over his previous three games with four runs and five stolen bases, Jason Kipnis went 0-for-4 with a walk on Friday night. We can’t all be perfect. Every starter reached base, hit or not, in another strong offensive performance by the Indians.

– There isn’t much Cleveland should be negative about today…you’d have to reach and it isn’t worth it.

Check It Out

– Zach McAllister (3-4) will be recalled from Triple-A Columbus by the Indians to start Saturday against Chicago RHP Scott Carroll (3-5). 

– If the Indians win one more game this weekend, they’ll head into the All-Star break at .500 or better for the 4th straight season. No one tell Manny Acta, please.

– Roberto Perez became the 10th Indian to homer in his major league debut with his shot on Thursday night. He was the first to accomplish the feat since Josh Bard on August 23, 2002…just 4,340 days ago.