Cleveland Indians: 3 takeaways from the strong win over the Brewers
The Cleveland Indians rallied behind their Cy Young winner; to take the series opener against the best team in the NL.
It was a rough weekend for the Tribe against their division foe. The Twins took an important division series from the Tribe, forcing the Indians to take games from some more irrelevant series. While it was huge for the Tribe to beat the best team in the NL, it is even more impressive to see the team play consistent baseball.
I mentioned that the Indians needed to get something out of this series to stay in contention with the AL leaders. The Indians found a way to stay with the top of the league-leading Brewers via the aggressive Tribe offense. Here are the takeaways from a fun Indians game against one of the league’s top teams.
Corey Kluber rebounded against the Brew Crew
It was a tough outing for the Tribe in Kluber’s last start against one of the few teams that had his number. Corey Kluber pitched a dismal game against Milwaukee in early May. This time around, Kluber found his groove.
Corey Kluber worked seven innings today allowing only one run. The Brewers offense is known to get off to early starts. Today was not the case for the Brew Crew as Kluber stuck out seven of the 27 batters he faced.
What threw the Brewers offense off tonight? Kluber threw 82.88 percent of his pitches for strikes. It’s hard to silence the best offense in the NL; but Kluber proved tonight why is the defending Cy Young winner against a remarkable Brewers offense.
The Indians didn’t need to rely on the bullpen
It’s hard to talk about your bullpen being the worst in baseball. The Cleveland Indians bullpen has lost over half of the games on record for the Tribe. Today; that W/L didn’t affect the Indians relieving corps.
Whenever you have Kluber on the mound, it’s not hard to earn a win. Today the Indians used a strong start from their Cy Young winner to propel them to a win. Despite having the worst bullpen in baseball, having guys like Cody Allen lock up these amazing outings show that the Indians bullpen has a chance to rebound.
It’s not all the top three
The top three hitters in the Indians lineup have proven to be some of the best in the league. Today; some of the other Tribe stars proved that it isn’t just Francisco Lindor, Michael Brantley, and Jose Ramirez responsible for the Indians runs. While two of those batters racked up hits today; the rest of the Tribe offense was responsible for today’s big hits.
Lonnie Chisenhall went 1-3 with two of tonight’s RBI’s. Lonnie’s return may prove to be an incredible addition for Cleveland. While Jose Ramirez scored the other Tribe run; the Indians have started to get hits from guys like Edwin Encarnacion, Yonder Alonso, and perhaps most importantly, Jason Kipnis. Should these power hitters continue to rake for the Tribe, it will be hard for teams to stop this offense from scoring.
Next: Tribe goes college heavy with Day 2 MLB Draft picks
The Cleveland Indians take on the Brewers one final time this season at 1:10 PM.