Cleveland Indians: 3 takeaways from Sunday’s bounce-back win

The Cleveland Indians rode the clutch hitting of Yan Gomes and a strong outing by Shane Bieber to avoid a sweep and get a much-needed win against the Twins.

They did it. The Cleveland Indians finally did it. After being on the losing end of five straight games against the Minnesota Twins, the Indians finally pulled out a win.

On the brink of getting swept in this three-game series, Yan Gomes and Lonnie Chisenhall put the offense on their backs and led the Tribe to a 4-1 win.

Shane Bieber gets first win

While the Twins only scored one run, they certainly had numerous chances to pile on. Shane Bieber gave up 10 hits and if I ended this sentence right there you would have assumed he gave up four-plus runs and got a loss.

But after giving up one run in the first, Bieber settled in and looked great. Giving up 10 hits is never ideal, but Bieber didn’t give up another run while striking out seven and giving up just one walk over 5.2 innings.

His control was great. He was able to go both inside and out for a strikeout and he was painting the corners beautifully.

Bieber became the fourth Indians pitcher to have six or more strikeouts in their first two major league appearances.

This was Bieber’s first major league win, so remember this moment because this looks to be the beginning of yet another special starting pitcher rising in the Indians organization (*knocks on wood*).

Thank you, Yan Gomes

The biggest reason for the Indians win was the three-RBI double Yan Gomes had in the third. It gave the Tribe their first lead over the Twins this weekend.

Not just in this game, but the entire three-game series. The last time they held a lead over the Twins was exactly two weeks ago when they held a 4-3 lead going into the seventh on June 3 (they would go on to lose 7-5).

This game is just an exclamation point on a recent surge in production from Gomes. After having a slow start to the season (just as many of his teammates did) Gomes has been on the rise in June, specifically this past week.

Over the last seven days Gomes is hitting .412 with seven RBIs, two home runs, two doubles and three runs. He has nine home runs on the season and is projected to tie his career-high 21 long balls by the seasons end.

He isn’t quite on the same tear as he was four years ago when he was a Silver Slugger, but if he keeps hitting like this he certainly could be.

Sweaty hats

Every year the MLB has special edition hats for different dates throughout the season. Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc.

Both teams were sporting baby blue hats with their respective team’s logos. But the most interesting thing about them? The sweat.

Oh my goodness the sweat. The hats must have been made with some other material than the typical team hats because they were drenched. When Cody Allen came on to close it out in the ninth his hat was a complete shade darker except for a small patch above the C logo.

When Zach Duke was on for the Twins in the eighth he had white sweat lines surrounding the lower part of his hat as well.

Next: Carlos Carrasco officially headed to the DL

It was rather disgusting.