Reaction: Cleveland Indians’ Offense Reappears In 6-2 Victory Over White Sox

The Indians took the second game of the series in Chicago, behind a solid start from Carlos Carrasco and a rare burst of offense that helped secure a 6-2 victory. Carrasco only pitched five innings, but he gave up just one run and four hits, while striking out eight batters. The White Sox sent right-hander Hector Noesi to the mound, who allowed four runs on four hits and a walk, along with five strikeouts.

Key Moments
First Inning
It looked like Carrasco might be in for a rough outing in the first inning, when Chicago first baseman Jose Abreu launched a two-out solo shot deep into the seats to give the White Sox an early lead. That was the only damage Carrasco would allow, though, and Carlos Santana made up for it the following inning with a long solo home run of his own to tie the game. The solo homers kept coming, with yey another off of the bat of David Murphy in the fifth inning.

Sixth Inning
With one out in the sixth inning, Jason Kipnis snuck a liner past the glove of Noesi and into center field. and Michael Brantley followed with an infield single. The White Sox brought in top pitching prospect Carlos Rodon for his major league debut, which didn’t go as well as they might have hoped. Rodon walked Brandon Moss to load the bases, before giving up a pinch-hit single to Ryan Raburn that scored two runs and put the Tribe up 4-1.

Seventh Inning
After walking Roberto Perez and Jose Ramirez to lead off the seventh inning, Rodon looked like his struggles would continue. The runners advanced on a bunt by Michael Bourn, before Perez scored on a sacrifice fly off of the bat of Kipnis. Brantley brought Ramirez home with an RBI single, increasing the Indians’ lead to 6-1.

Eighth Inning
The White Sox attempted a comeback in the eighth inning off of Indians’ reliever Zach McAllister. Adam Eaton and Melky Cabrera had a pair of two-out singles, before Abreu hit an RBI single that forced McAllister out of the game. Nick Hagadone came on in relief, but Adam LaRoche reached on an error and Terry Francona went to his bullpen yet again. This time, it was Bryan Shaw, who came through with a key strikeout against Avisail Garcia to end the inning.

The Positives
Carrasco threw 60 pitches, 46 of which were strikes. He pitched with no hesitation, and didn’t seem to have any lingering effects from last week’s incident. Out of the bullpen, Scott Atchison was stellar as usual, giving up a hit and striking out a batter. Marc Rzepczynski looked like the pitcher he was last season, with a pair of strikeouts in two inning. Raburn continued his hot streak, getting two hits in two at-bats, while Brantley was 2-for-4 in his appearances.

The Negatives
There weren’t too many negatives for the Tribe on Tuesday. McAllister allowed a run while giving the Indians just one inning of work, but he’s still in the middle of a weird transition from starter to reliever. Last year, he was excellent out of the bullpen — he may just need time to adjust to inconsistent rest and shorter warm-up times. One other concern is Ramirez’s defense, which has been extremely sketchy sp far this year. He made another error tonight, contributing to the scare in the eighth inning.

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Check It Out
– On Wednesday, Corey Kluber looks to take on Jeff Samardzija and the White Sox in the final game of the series. Both starters are 0-1, but Kluber has a 2.49 ERA and 25 strikeouts, while Samardzija has struck out just 14 batters in route to a 4.29 ERA. Kluber will look to get some run support for the first time this season — his teammates are averaging just two runs per game in his first three starts.

– The Indians have two pitchers in the American League top-ten for Batting Average Against. Trevor Bauer actually leads all of Major League Baseball, holding opposing hitters to a .125 average, while Kluber ranks ninth, keeping batters to a .176 average. Bauer and Clayton Kershaw are tied at 26 strikeouts, second only to the Rays’ Chris Archer, while Kluber’s 25 strikeouts rank just behind them.

Next: Making the Grade: Ranking Center Fielders in the AL Central