The Aftermath: Three Takeaways from the Indians' 5-2 Win Over Kansas City
The Cleveland Indians broke out the brooms on Thursday night, completing a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals and cutting their magic number to clinch a division title down to four.
Another division rival, another sweep. The Cleveland Indians completed a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field with a 5-2 victory on Thursday night. The Tribe’s magic number to clinch the American League Central is now just four.
In the win, Cleveland took advantage of the longball. Jason Kipnis put the team on the board in the bottom of the first with a solo shot to right field off KC starter Jason Vargas, his 23rd of the season, and Carlos Santana broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the sixth with a three-run homer, his 34th on the year, off reliever Dillon Gee.
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Rookie Mike Clevinger was on the bump and continued to stretch back out as a starter, throwing 80 pitches in five innings. The 25-year old allowed two runs on four hits with a pair of walks and four strikeouts in a no-decision, and really made just one mistake.
The bullpen continued its trend of dominance, as Dan Otero, Bryan Shaw, and Cody Allen combined to toss four shutout innings, yielding just two hits and striking out four, to cement the sweep.
The Royals were eliminated from the AL Central race, and at 5.5 games behind the second wild card spot with nine games remaining, are on life support as far as the postseason is concerned.
Friday marks the beginning of the season’s final home series, as the Indians will welcome the Chicago White Sox for a three-game set. If things shake out right, the Tribe could be celebrating a divisional championship in their own locker room.
Watching #TheFlow Grow
With two outs in the second inning, Clevinger left a couple of fastballs up over the plate, resulting in an Alex Gordon single and an Alcides Escobar two-run home run. Kansas City also got the leadoff man aboard in the third, fourth, and fifth innings, but were kept off the board.
We are watching the real-time maturation of a young pitcher, as Clevinger continues to develop in each outing. In his past three starts, he has allowed just four earned runs in 13 innings (2.77 ERA), with 12 strikeouts to five walks.
Overall, since being recalled from Triple-A Columbus in early August, the right-hander has given up only 10 runs in 29 innings (3.10 ERA) between the starting rotation and the bullpen, holding the opposition to a .206/.309/.346 slash line and averaging a strikeout per inning.
Clevinger has a huge role to play in the way manager Terry Francona will utilize the pitching staff in the playoffs. If he can continue to improve as he has down the stretch, Cleveland will have an answer, at least in part, to the injuries the rotation has suffered.
Stop Me If You’ve Heard This
The Indians’ bullpen is on some kind of a run over the past two months. Considered earlier in the season as a concern for the club, the relief corps has evolved into one of the best in baseball in the second half.
The acquisition of Andrew Miller may have been the catalyst for the transformation, and the big lefty has been even better than advertised, striking out 38 and walking just two in 25 innings since coming over from the New York Yankees at the July 31st trade deadline. But the trio of Otero, Shaw, and Allen that closed things out on Thursday have been locked since well before Miller’s arrival.
Since July 1st, Shaw has allowed six earned runs in 34.1 innings (1.57 ERA), Otero has given up eight earned in 36.1 innings (1.98 ERA), and Allen has yielded seven runs in 29.1 innings (2.15 ERA). Throw in Miller’s five runs allowed in 25 innings since the trade and the core quartet of the bullpen has a collective 1.87 ERA when the team has needed them most.
Given the injuries to the starting rotation, the shutdown ability of the bullpen once the postseason begins becomes exponentially more important. And with these four arms, Francona and the Tribe have a weapon that very few teams can hope to contend with.
A Helluva Run
The sweep of the Royals marked the 14th time Cleveland has brought out the brooms in 2016, and improved the club’s record with the AL Central to 44-22. That’s exactly the kind of dominance against rivals that postseason berths are built on.
Thursday’s win also improved the Indians’ record at Progressive Field to 52-26 with just the three games against the White Sox left. In the Jacob’s Field/Progressive Field era, the only Tribe team to win more was the strike-shortened 1995 Mike Hargrove-led club that went 54-18 en route to the franchise’s first World Series appearance since 1954.
So a sweep of the Sox would give Cleveland 55 home wins and yet another milestone for the 2016 season. Regardless of the outcome, though, it’s undeniable that some of that mid-90s magic has returned to the corner of Carnegie and Ontario, and it’s been one helluva run for the team and fans alike.