Balanced Attack Backs Bauer in Win Over Texas By
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Balanced attack backs Bauer in win over Texas By Jordan Bastian and William Kosileski / MLB.com | 1:12 AM ET + 22 COMMENTS CLEVELAND -- The Indians' offensive roller coaster began to climb again on Wednesday night. One game after being quieted by the Rangers, Cleveland had contributions up and down its order to back a strong outing by Trevor Bauer, netting a 5-3 win at Progressive Field. Michael Brantley delivered a pair of RBI singles for the American League Central-leading Tribe, which also received run-scoring hits from Francisco Lindor, Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Ramirez in the team's second win in this four-game set with Texas. The Indians have a chance to win the series on Thursday. Full Game Coverage "It's a good way to play when you're getting contributions [up and down the lineup]," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "You've got guys on base. You're not going to cash in all the time like we didn't [at times]. But we kept putting pressure and fortunately got a couple tack-on runs to make the ninth inning not quite as nerve-wracking as it could have been." Rangers ace Yu Darvish took the loss after allowing three runs (two earned) over six innings, in which he struck out six and walked one. The unearned run came in the first inning, when an error by left fielder Nomar Mazara helped the Tribe get its lineup going. Brantley and Ramirez each came through with RBI singles off Darvish in the third. "I think he was [struggling] to find a rhythm with his off-speed stuff," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said of Darvish. "It wasn't as dynamic as we've seen in the past. But really, the four-seam fastball and the sinker were probably the best we've seen all year. He didn't break out the cutter until late. I thought he did a fine job with those three pitches." Bauer picked up the win behind 6 1/3 solid innings of work. The right-hander did not relinquish a hit until the fourth inning, and his lone setback was a solo homer from Robinson Chirinos in the fifth. Chirinos, who has 12 shots on the season, has homered in four consecutive games and has seven long balls in his past 10 games. Bauer struck out three and walked one. Armed with a four-run lead, the Indians handed the ball to closer Cody Allen in the ninth, marking his third straight night of work. Elvis Andrus sent Allen's second pitch over the center-field wall for a solo home run to cut Cleveland's lead to 5-2, and Rougned Odor later added an RBI single. Allen dodged any more harm to seal the win. MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Yes way, Jose: Adrian Beltre played the hero Tuesday night with a game-deciding home run, and the veteran came inches away from a critical hit on Wednesday. With one out and runners on first and second, Beltre pulled a sharp grounder up the third-base line. Ramirez reacted with a quick dive to his right to snare the ball, and then fired to first from foul ground for an electrifying out. The runners each moved up a base, but Bauer followed with a groundout off the bat of Mazara to escape any damage. "The play that Jose made kind of saved that inning," Bauer said. "If that ball rattles around in the corner, it's at least one run, maybe two. It's probably a double, guys on second and third and one out. And the inning kind of spirals from there. I got a lot of help from the defense." Mazara's misplay: Jason Kipnis lofted Darvish's fifth pitch of the night high and deep to left field for what looked to be a routine out. Mazara drifted under the ball -- one that came with a 96-percent catch probability, per Statcast™ -- but did not finish the play. The ball nicked the end of the left fielder's glove, falling to the warning track and allowing Kipnis to sprint to second. Lindor then capitalized on the error by delivering an RBI single that got the Indians offense going. "I haven't talked to [Mazara] about that one," Banister said. "It looked like he got turned around, and by the time he picked the ball up again, it went off his glove." QUOTABLE "Huge play, that Ramirez play. That ball down the line off Adrian's bat, I think we had runners on first and second, [Ramirez] was able to record the out there across the diamond, and we were unable to capitalize on anything else." -- Banister, on Ramirez's diving stop in the sixth "Four runs, we usually do. I wanted him to have a bit of wiggle room. I'd rather him be down tomorrow for a noon game, because we've got a lot of baseball this weekend [in Detroit]. If we're going to give him a [break], I wanted it to be tomorrow." -- Francona, on going with Allen in the ninth inning FOUR STARS FOR ZIMMER On Statcast™'s recently unveiled sprint speed leaderboard, Indians rookie Bradley Zimmer checked in as baseball's third-fastest player with an average rate of 29.8 feet per second. In the fourth inning, Zimmer flashed his speed on a highlight-reel catch in center field. Shin-Soo Choo pulled a pitch from Bauer into the right-center gap, but Zimmer closed in fast and made a sliding grab to rob the Rangers outfielder of an extra- base hit. Per Statcast™, the play had a 46-percent catch probability, making that a four-star play for Zimmer. "That was a really nice play," Francona said. "We've talked about it several times, he's done a really good job in center field. What's nice is, normally with younger guys, as long as they stay healthy, they're going to get better as you get to know the league and things like that, which is really exciting." WHAT'S NEXT Rangers: The Rangers will activate right-hander Andrew Cashner (3-6, 3.50 ERA) from the disabled list (oblique strain) to start Thursday's 11:10 a.m. CT series finale against the Indians at Progressive FIeld. Cashner will make his first start since June 14 against the Astros, where he allowed four runs on 10 hits in four innings. Indians: Ace Corey Kluber (6-2, 3.24 ERA) is scheduled to take the mound for the Tribe in Thursday's finale against the Rangers at 12:10 p.m. ET. Kluber is riding a streak of 21 consecutive scoreless innings, has racked up at least 10 strikeouts in three straight starts and has a 1.29 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 35 innings in June. Francona makes cheerful return to Tribe bench By Jordan Bastian / MLB.com | @MLBastian | June 28th, 2017 + 3 COMMENTS CLEVELAND -- Indians manager Terry Francona was back at Progressive Field on Wednesday, wearing a heart-rate monitor and armed with jokes. He blamed his recent health scare on a possible allergy to bench coach Brad Mills and quipped that a reporter's ugly tie may have set off the light-headedness and increased heart rate. Francona was able to revert to his typical self-deprecating ways because Monday night's episode was not the result of any major health issues. And the manager felt fortunate to be back around his team and in his comfort zone, following a second incident this month that forced him to exit Cleveland's dugout and head to the Cleveland Clinic. Full Game Coverage "It's nice to have your uniform on and be back, because what I love is the day-to-day stuff. I love it," Francona said prior to Wednesday's game against the Rangers. "This is the most comfortable place in my life, where I am. And I miss that when I'm gone. So I'll just try to continue to keep track of what's going on, and the doctors are so good and conscientious that we'll figure it out. It just might take a little while to get a handle on exactly what's been going on." Monday's situation did, however, provide Francona with a different perspective on the game he has been around for more than three decades. When Francona left the stadium during Cleveland's game against the Rangers two nights ago, the Indians were trailing, 9-3. Over the remainder of the night, the Tribe's offense chipped away, mounting one of the more memorable comebacks in the team's recent history, ending with a 15-9 victory. A few miles away from his seat in the dugout, Francona got to see the reaction of Indians fans at the hospital. "One of our doctors drove me to the hospital," Francona said. "So he had it on his phone. And it was what, 9-3. We park, 9-4. Got in, it was 9-5. They're setting me up in there and Lonnie [Chisenhall] got a base hit and it was 10-9. We couldn't get it on the TV, but we're in the emergency room and you can hear nurses yelling. It was really cool. "I had it on my phone, and you could hear people I couldn't see reacting, which I thought was really cool. That gave me a huge lift, just hearing people react to the game of baseball, our baseball. It made me feel good." Francona, who also left the Indians' game on June 13 against the Dodgers with similar symptoms, said he will be monitored over the next several weeks in an effort to get to the root of the issue.