Cleveland Indians: Exhale please, the Indians have won

While Spring Training recaps aren’t exactly what we’re going for, we feel you deserve to know how the Cleveland Indians got the ST monkey off their backs.

Don’t look at this as a recap of Spring Training game that doesn’t count. Look at this as the Cleveland Indians getting a monkey off of their backs. The Indians hadn’t won since September 30th. So this was something for us all to take some solace in.

There was a lot to like here today. Carlos Santana had himself a day with three RBI including a two-run homer that made me jump for joy. It’s nice to be able to celebrate Slamtana dingers again.

But he wasn’t the only star. The Indians bullpen staff that has struggled mightily of late had a great day today. I should mention a lot of the struggles have come from minor league guys, but these games mean a lot to those players.

We saw some great defense from Max Moroff and Ernie Clement. We even got to see Dan Otero and Adam Cimber each pitch a perfect inning.

But perhaps the biggest takeaway of the afternoon came from the play of Daniel Johnson. Johnson was a part of the trade that sent Yan Gomes to the Nationals. He’s a stretch to make the Opening Day roster, but today he played great. He started his day with an RBI triple and ended it with a solo home run. With the questions the Indians have in the outfield, Johnson has a chance to shoot for the MLB roster if he can have himself a strong spring.

It was a great effort all around for the Indians. While Spring Training games don’t mean much of anything, a win gives the clubhouse a collective exhale as they continue to work themselves back into the flow of everyday baseball.