Cleveland Indians: Takeaways from Wednesday’s walk-off win

The Cleveland Indians offense couldn’t take advantage of poor Twins defense and wasted a great effort from Mike Clevinger. Thank God for Francisco Lindor!

What a walk-off win for the Cleveland Indians!

The excitement is so real it is hard to type. Time for the takeaways.

Mike Clevinger

Mike Clevinger has struggled over his last five starts, with an ERA of 4.85. He looked like the Clevinger from earlier this season in this one. He pitched with excellent control. He went seven strong innings, allowing one run on five hits and retiring the last 11 batters he faced.

Clevinger deserved a much better fate than he got. The offense couldn’t pull away with opportunities and Cody Allen came in and blew a save. This game is a prime example why a pitcher’s win total is a misleading stat.

Offensive woes

The Tribe bats struggled for the second straight game. If it wasn’t for the heroics of Francisco Lindor the Indians would have had a really tough luck loss. Going into the ninth inning the Tribe was 0 for 17 with runners in scoring position over the last two games.

Luckily, the Indians got the one hit when it was most needed.

Cody Allen

Cody Allen has been very frustrating this year. He’s gone from one of the better closers in baseball to somebody you can’t exactly trust right now. He’s been up and down all season. Over his last nine outings it looked like he was settling back into his old form. He had thrown 9.2 innings and had an ERA of 2.79.

Last night, Allen had trouble locating his knuckle-curve and hung one to Miguel Sano. Even after the home run Allen couldn’t seem to find his command, but credit to him for being able to work through the inning to keep the game tied. Hopefully this is more a blip on the radar than a revert back to his struggles.

All in all the Indians pulled out the victory and that’s all that matters. They showed resiliency and let one of the best players in baseball bring them home. Credit as well goes to Jason Kipnis and Brandon Guyer for having great at-bats in the ninth to give Lindor the chance to win the game.