Cleveland Indians: 3 takeaways from the 4-0 win over Baltimore

The Cleveland Indians came to life on Saturday against a struggling Baltimore Orioles lineup to even the four-game series with a 4-0 victory.

It wasn’t the prettiest game offensively for the Cleveland Indians, but thanks to the long ball they earned their 10th win of the season.

Mike Clevinger pitched a beauty to earn his second win of 2018 to bring his record to 2-0. After two disappointing one-run games from the Indians offense, the team woke up thanks to some big hits from their stars on Saturday night.

Indians scoring from the long ball

The story for the Indians offense this year has been the lack of run support. On days like today that is easy to forget. The Indians hit three solo homers in the win.

The long ball is a good way for a team struggling at the plate to step things up, especially from guys that specialize in extra-base hits. Jose Ramirez in particular has benefitted from the long ball a lot in this first month of the season. Five of Jose’s 15 hits in 2018 have been homers, and he isn’t letting up.

Alonso also smoked a long ball in the 6th inning; his going all the way out to Eutaw St. Alonso is proving his worth with the long ball, and is on pace to hit a career high in 2018.

Tillman’s struggles continue

Chris Tillman had a tough day early on. In his six innings of work he allowed all four Indians runs. While he only walked one hitter on the day, he did throw two wild pitches with the Indians scoring as a result of the first one.

Tillman has had an abysmal start to 2018. He came into this game with a 11.91 ERA. A struggling Indians offense got to the pitcher early and didn’t let up. The Orioles offense didn’t do Tillman any favors either, which brings me to the next takeaway.

Clevinger has a career day

Mike Clevinger pitched his first career complete game and shutout in the win. He tossed 107 pitches in his nine innings of work. Strikeouts have never been Clevinger’s strength and a marvelous Indians defense helped him quite a bit. But in the end it was one of the best outings of Clevinger’s young career.

Next: Mike Napoli suffers “significant” knee injury

The Indians will look to take the lead in this four-game series tomorrow. The O’s and Tribe will face off in a 1 p.m. matinée on Sunday.