The Aftermath: Three Takeaways from the Indians’ 3-2 Win Over Toronto

For the second straight night, the Cleveland Indians found some last at-bat magic to pull out a win.

Two games, two walkoff wins, and at the center of both of them was Tyler Naquin. After driving in the winning run against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday night, the Indians’ rookie sent the Toronto Blue Jays home unhappy thanks to a game-winning inside-the-park home run off Roberto Osuna to give the Tribe a 3-2 win.

Naquin did not start either of the two games, as both featured left-handed starters for the opposition. But the former first round draft pick in 2012 stayed focused on the bench and came through when his chance came around.

“Keep running. Don’t fall,” Naquin told reporters of what he was thinking while circling the bases. “I almost fell down there for a second.”

The walkoff wouldn’t have happened without Jose Ramirez, either, as he tied the game up 2-2 one batter earlier with a solo homer (that actually made it to the seats) against Osuna.

The wild ending was befitting a game that had a playoff feel throughout. Both Cleveland and Toronto entered the night in first place in their respective divisions.

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Blue Jays starter Francisco Liriano was on his game, silencing the Indians’ bats through six innings, allowing just an unearned run on four hits while striking out seven. Right-handers Joaquin Benoit and Jason Grilli also tossed scoreless frames out of the bullpen before Osuna took over in the ninth.

Trevor Bauer matched Liriano, though, striking out a career-high 13 batters in eight innings of work. The only blemish for Bauer was a two-run home run surrendered to Russell Martin in the top of the first. While he received a no-decision, it was the third straight quality start the righty has turned in after going through a rough patch.

Prior to the ninth, the only offense Cleveland was able to muster came when an error allowed Jason Kipnis to reach third base and Mike Napoli delivered a two-out RBI single off Liriano.

The Tribe is now 20 games over .500 for the first time this season, and thanks to Detroit’s 10-2 loss to Boston, now hold a seven game lead in the AL Central. Two more games remain in the series, and if Friday night was any indication, they should be good ones.

Good Trevor

As mentioned, Bauer went through a rough patch in July and early August, with an 8.37 ERA in a five start stretch from July 7th to August 3rd. Cleveland lost four out of five of those starts, and rumblings about Bauer’s inconsistencies began to get louder.

To Bauer’s credit, though, he’s gotten himself back on track in his last three turns in the rotation, yielding six earned runs in 20.1 innings, good for a 2.66 ERA and 21 strikeouts to just six walks. The Tribe has won all three of those games and Bauer has begun to regain the dominant form he showed in the month of June.

Two Outs, No Worries

When Napoli smacked his RBI single in the sixth to give the Indians their first run of the game, it marked the 43rd two-out hit the team has notched during its current homestand (nine games thus far). That approach is a big reason why Cleveland never seems to be out of the game, and is a testament to the culture Terry Francona has built.

“There wasn’t a second of that game that anyone thought we were going to lose,” Bauer said in his postgame interview.

Not surprisingly, the Indians have won seven of the nine games so far on the homestand, outscoring their opponents 57-32, and are now in a position to get a series win against a quality Blue Jays club.

#TyleROY

The Tribe had not had a walkoff inside-the-park home run in over 100 years. The only other time in franchise history that the feat was accomplished came courtesy of Braggo Roth on August 13, 1916 against the St. Louis Browns. It was the first inside-the-park job for the team since Jhonny Peralta in 2010.

Next: Naquin Hits Another Walkoff

It was the kind of moment that can help define a player in the minds of both fans and media, and could help propel Naquin to the American League’s Rookie of the Year award. For the season, the 25-year old is slashing .316/.377/.603 in 84 games played, with 14 home runs and 39 RBIs. And on Thursday and Friday nights, he showed that performing in a pennant race isn’t too big for him.