Cleveland Indians: 3 takeaways from a shutout win in Chicago

The Cleveland Indians cruised to a 4-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox on a night that showed where the Indians stand in the division.

Monday night’s victory over the Chicago White Sox was a nice reminder for Cleveland Indians fans that the rest of the American League Central is bad. Very, very bad.

The Indians picked up an easy 4-0 victory on a night when Carlos Carrasco ran his pitch count up early but was still able to make it through seven scoreless innings. Then he turned it over to the bullpen. That sentence would normally induce panic but not against the White Sox.

Let’s take a look at what stood out from this one.

Cookie battles

Carlos Carrasco appears to be back to his usual ways after he logged seven innings for the second straight time after a few rough outings that saw his ERA spike to 4.50.

He struck out 11 White Sox batters and allowed two hits, walking just one batter. It was a dominant outing and a reminder that White Sox fans are stuck in purgatory for now.

Cookie is now 8-4 on the year and is beginning to inch back toward being considered the second-best starter on the team. But for now, Trevor Bauer holds that title.

An amazing June for two relievers

Just as we all expected when the year began, Oliver Perez and Neil Ramirez are the consistent arms out of the bullpen right now. Both have yet to allow a run in June and combined for a hitless and scoreless 1.2 innings of work Monday night.

With Andrew Miller injured and the rest of the group in a constant state of flux, these two veterans are providing reliable work for Terry Francona. The sample size is small but they are keeping blood pressures down in Cleveland. And that is always a good thing.

A nice stretch for the Yanimal

Yan Gomes added two RBIs in the win, giving him at least one RBI in each of his last three games. He also owns a seven-game hitting streak, so take that Francisco Mejia!

Next: Indians make roster moves in advance of Monday's game

Gomes wants to keep his job and is getting hot at the right time. Let’s see if that remains true and isn’t just a fluke. His batting average is only at .241, so we may have to pump the brakes a bit on the praise.