Gomes Propels Indians To First Series Win

On Sunday afternoon, at a frigid Progressive Field, the Indians sealed their first series win of 2018 in walk-off fashion, when Yan Gomes took a Brandon Maurer pitch over the left field wall for a 2-run blast that knocked out the Kansas City Royals in a grueling 3-1 Tribe victory.

With one out in the ninth inning and Erik Gonzalez pinch running at first base, Gomes battled Maurer in an epic at-bat, fouling off pitch after pitch. With a full count, Gomes watched a low pitch and absolutely golfed it. I was certain the ball would die in the wind, as so many fly balls had done previously throughout the series, but it kept carrying, over the heads of the Royals outfielders, before ricocheting off the fans in left field.

It was a euphoric finish to what had been an arduous afternoon of baseball. My arms were raised in joy as the crowd went wild, but they were also raised in relief. I don’t think I could have endured extra innings, of having to watch more scoreless baseball.

A moment that stood out to me: as Gomes completed his postgame interview with Andre Knott (SportsTime Ohio’s sideline broadcaster), he walked back to the dugout to collect his catcher’s gear. With his chest protector safely tucked under his arm, Gomes turned around to catch the replay of his walk-off blast playing on the big screen in center field. As Tom Hamilton called the winning play, Gomes gave a nod of modest satisfaction, with the smallest hint of a smile on his face. It was a classy moment for the Brazilian backstop, and endeared him to me even more.

Let’s take a peak at some of the talking points from the Tribe’s first home stand of this season:

Cleveland In April: Where Fly Balls Go To Die

This entire series was heavily affected by the weather conditions and both team’s offensive output suffered as a result. To any fans reading this who were in the stands, I salute you.

The Indians’ offense have hardly started 2018 on a tear but their first home stand really ground things to a halt. It was evident right from the start of the home opener on Friday afternoon: anything hit in the air was not going far.

The strength of the wind knocked down everything, and outfielders often found themselves having to break inward on line drives, instead of ranging back as they usually would. The wind helped the ball settle nicely into their gloves, whereas most of those hits would have resulted in extra bases on a normal day. Jason Kipnis in particular had a couple of long fly-outs over the weekend that could have been doubles at the very least in normal conditions. Sunday’s rubber game was reported to be 32℉, the coldest regular season game in Progressive Field history, even though the sun was shining all day.

Brantley Returns and Offensive Woes

Michael Brantley made his return to the club just in time for Friday afternoon’s home opener, and made an instant impact.

After Tribe starter Carlos Carrasco scuffled in the first inning and put the Indians in an early 2-0 hole, Royals’ starter Danny Duffy followed suit and found himself in hot water too. Duffy couldn’t find his location and Brantley made him pay in his first at-bat. With the bases loaded and the Indians trailing 2-1, Brantley stepped into the batters box and lined a single into right field to score two runs and put the home side ahead 3-2. It turned out to be the last runs of the day, as Carrasco and Duffy began a pitchers duel from the second inning onward, and the Indians held on for the win.

In fact, the Indians didn’t score another run until the eighth inning of Sunday’s game. That’s 23 consecutive innings, the longest scoring drought in Terry Francona’s tenure as Cleveland manager. That’s a measure of just how bad this series was for the Tribe offense.

Despite their anemic hitting, the Indians prevailed, outscoring the Royals 6-4 for the two-to-one series win.

Here are some other snippets of note during the series:

• Tyler Naquin was sent down to Triple-A before Friday’s opener, to make room for Brantley’s return. However, Naquin never made it to Colombus, as Lonnie Chisenhall hurt himself early in Saturday’s game (calf strain) and was placed on the 10-day DL. Estimates are predicting Chisenhall could miss 4-6 weeks, so Naquin has been gifted another opportunity to impress. I expect he will split time in right field with Brandon Guyer, and spell Brantley in left field as the veteran eases his way back into regular everyday play.
• Mike Clevinger got the start on Sunday and was superb over 7.1 innings. Despite being far from sharp (often pitching behind in the count), Clevinger really battled, both the elements and the Royals. The right-hander scattered 9 hits, issued 2 walks and struck out 4. This outing was a career high for him in terms of length, both in innings pitched and total number of pitches (110). 
• Trevor Bauer pitched an absolute gem on Saturday, and was very unlucky to lose, as the offense couldn’t back him at all in a 1-0 loss. Kansas City’s lone run came from a Lucas Duda solo shot, the only mistake Bauer made over 8 stellar innings. Bauer’s off-speed pitches were especially nice to watch, and he struck out 7 Royals, only giving up 3 hits and 2 walks over 100 pitches. His maturity on the mound has impressed me a lot so far this year.

Cleveland now have a 4-5 record and will remain at home, as they host Detroit for a four game series. The Tribe are expected to send Corey Kluber to the mound in a bid to continue their winning ways, and gain some early momentum in this young season.