Lake County Sentinel
Indians offense explodes in 13-0 bludgeoning of Reds
BY ANDREW GAURINO
INDIANS BEAT WRITER
The Cleveland Indians defeated the Cincinnati Reds 13-0 Thursday evening from Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland's offense has badly needed a game like this where the offense just exploded. Crazy stat of the day? The Indians have scored only twelve runs in their previous eight games; tonight they scored 13 runs in nine innings.( stat from Zach Meisel Twitter)
Prior to tonight's game, the Indians had to shrink their roster down to 28 guys. They designated Christian Arroyo for assignment. They are also optioning Greg Allen and Daniel Johnson to the alternate training site; Delino DeShields was reinstated from the injured list. As a final announcement from the Indians, they said Terry Francona would not travel with the team to Chicago for the weekend series.
Along with being called up, Delino DeShields made his 2020 season debut and his Indians debut. He was acquired from the Texas Rangers in the Corey Kluber trade. He was batting ninth and playing center field. A cool fact for tonight's game is that DeShields' dad is the Reds' first base coach, so he got to see his son make his season debut as well as his Indians' debut.
The Indians got things off to a great start offensively as Jose Ramirez hit a solo home run in the top of the first to give the Indians a 1-0 lead. It was his third home run of the year. The Indians were able to put together some two-out magic in the fifth. Cesar Hernandez started it with a two-out walk, followed by an RBI triple by Jose Ramirez to right field which made it 2-0 Indians. It was the Tribe's first triple of the year. After that, Francisco Lindor had an RBI single to left, Carlos Santana walked, and Franmil Reyes grounded out to end the inning.
Carrasco was rolling. The sixth is when he got himself into trouble. After retiring the first two batters, Joey Votto reached on a walk, followed by another walk to Eugenio Suarez. Jesse Winker was next; he took a called strike two. He was not happy about it and had some choice words for the home plate umpire Jerry Meals. Winker then proceeded strike out looking on a borderline pitch. He walked away screaming at Meals then Rede manger David Bell came out and was ejected from the game.
The Indians were able to break things wide open in the seventh. It took two Reds' pitchers 57 pitches to get out of it. The Indians sent fourteen batters to the plate in a ten-run inning. Delino DeShields got a lead off single followed by a Cesar Hernandez single. Ramirez grounded out into a fielder's choice where Votto threw home to get DeShields out and Ramirez went to second. Lindor was intentionally walked, followed by a Carlos Santana RBI walk, a Franmil Reyes two-run single, and then a single by Domingo Santana, which reloaded the bases. Up next was Oscar Mercado, who struck out to give the Indians the second out. Then Beau Taylor and Delino DeShields had back-to-back RBI walks. Cesar Hernandez had a base-clearing three-run double. After this, Jose Ramirez hit his second home run of the night - a two-run blast to make it 13-0.
Carlos Carrasco was great tonight going six innings, allowing just one hit, striking out eight and walking four. His counterpart Luis Castillo didn't fare quite as well, giving up three runs on four hits, walking four, and striking out eight. Delino Deshields had a good first game as an Indian going 1/3 with a walk and an rbi.
Looking ahead: The Indians will travel to Chicago to take on the White Sox for a three-game weekend series. Friday night's game is scheduled for an 8:10 pm start. The pitching match up will be a rematch of the July 28th game versus the White Sox. Aaron Civale will take the mound for the Tribe; he is 1-1 with a 3.70 ERA on the year. In his first game versus the White Sox this year, he pitched six innings, giving up seven hits, two runs, while walking one and striking out nine; he got the victory. The White Sox will counter with Dylan Cease, who in first outing versus the Indians went 2 1/3 inning, giving up four runs on seven hits and striking out one.
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POSTED 08/06/2020 23:05
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Photo by Ben Zedner