Cleveland Indians: 3 takeaways from a comfortable 12-4 victory

The Cleveland Indians picked up an easy 12-4 victory over the Texas Rangers thanks to an offensive explosion and another great start from the ace.

The Cleveland Indians decided to keep things simple on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon at Progressive Field.

The Indians jumped out to a 10-2 lead after three innings. More than enough run support for the great Corey Kluber, who saved the bullpen from having to do too much after a few rough days.

Let’s look at what stood out from the win that pushes the Indians to 16-13 on the season.

Edwin’s monster day

The offense racked up 15 hits in the win, and Edwin Encarnacion accounted for three of those. What was special about his three is that they were all home runs.

Encarnacion finished with three home runs and six RBI in the win, while Francisco Lindor and Jason Kipnis each had a home run as well.

Edwin is still only slashing .191/.264/.445 on the year, but maybe this game helps get him going. He raised his average 20 points in this game alone.

Not much else to say about Kluber

Corey Kluber is about as automatic as they come. He improved to 5-1 on the year after logging seven innings. He gave up three runs, all on home runs, and was able to relax after being given such a huge lead.

Games like this one are when a mercy rule would make sense. Imagine being down 10-2 and trying to mount a comeback against the Klubot.

Terry Francona went into the game knowing he needed to give his bullpen some rest and was likely never in doubt about Kluber going deep into the game. If Kluber continues at this pace we may be witnessing a key point in time in the case for him to make the Hall of Fame.

Ben Taylor makes his debut

The Indians started the day by calling up Ben Taylor and designating Matt Belisle for assignment. Belisle was not horrible for the Indians, but he made the team as the final piece and was set up to be the first one gone.

Taylor has some MLB experience with the Red Sox and pitched a scoreless inning in his Indians debut. Right now the team just needs people to come in and not allow runs. It sounds simple, but it is something fans took for granted with Bryan Shaw in town.

Next: Ranking Terry Francona among the team’s best managers

If Taylor can do that, he will keep his job. If he struggles, the revolving door at reliever will continue until the team makes a trade for an established player.