Indians 9, Tigers 3
Box Score
Indians improve to 44-30
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It’s getting difficult to write actual, solid analysis about this baseball team. I’m sure that a better human would be able to sit down and string together some coherent thoughts. Maybe the Indians did something in the third inning that could have gone a little bit better. Maybe we could sit here and pick the indians baserunning apart. Maybe we should have scored eleven runs instead of nine.
Who cares about the maybes? The Indians have won nine consecutive games and are currently undefeated against the Detroit Tigers. As of this moment, they’re 5.5 games ahead of the rest of the AL Central, and are currently tied with the Orioles for the second-best record in the American League.
Cleveland is a glorious city where everything is beautiful and the good guys always win. Nothing bad ever happens there. EVER.
I’ll attempt to do some actual baseball writing now.
Michael Martinez walked, went first-to-third on a single, and then scored on a wild pitch in the top of the fourth. This should have sparked a huge inning for the Tribe. Instead, Lonnie Chisenhall got thrown out on one of the worst baserunning plays that I’ve ever seen. He circled second base, staring at home the entire time. When he reached third he discovered Mike Napoli, panicked, and tried to get back to second. Jose Iglesias tagged him out two-thirds of the way back. The Indians should put up more than two runs in the frame. Napoli would have scored on the play, but he slid into third and couldn’t react quickly enough when the throw home got past Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
Fortunately, the Indians decided to make up for it with an unusual fifth inning. They obliterated every baseball they saw. Uribe, Naquin, Napoli, and Chisenhall all hit home runs, and the Indians scored six runs in the inning. Outside of an absolute miracle, there was no way Detroit could claw their way back into the game.
Chisenhall had a very good day of baseball except for the TOOTBLAN, notching a hit in every at-bat and driving in three runs. Yan Gomes extended his hitting streak to six games. Francisco Lindor went 3-5 and might steal Tyler’s girlfriend.
In a post-game video earlier in the week I predicted that the Indians might reach 50 wins by the all-star break. This now seems like a stupid, dumb, idiotic lowball prediction. It’s much more accurate to suggest that the Indians will win 94 games by the break. Math can’t stop this team.
Josh Tomlin creeped to 9-1 on the season with today’s win. On the radio broadcast Tom Hamilton pointed out that the Tribe is 14-0 when Tomlin starts and the Indians score three runs. Part of this is due to Tomlin’s inexplicable talent for giving up home runs that don’t break the game open.
I’m losing the thread again. Joy is shaking my fingertips and elation is bulldozing my thoughts. Tomorrow night the Indians take on the Atlanta Braves, giving them an excellent chance to win their tenth, eleventh, and twelfth consecutive games.
Baseball is wonderful.
