Tribe rallies late to salvage series finale over Rays
Photo Credit: Sean Fitzgerald
By: Sean Fitzgerald
The Cleveland Indians desperately needed a win in the series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays. The team had lost five of its previous six contests and 11 straight to the Rays entering Sunday’s matinee.
18,614 showed up and finally were treated to a winner with the Tribe rallying late for a 3-2 win.
Triston McKenzie gave up a hit and a walk to the first two batters and got Randy Arozarena around to score with one out on an Austin Meadows fielder’s choice.
The Indians fired back immediately against Rays starter Ryan Yarbrough. Cesar Hernandez ropes his 17th home run of the campaign 407 feet to dead center and his 18th career leadoff home run. It’s the fifth leadoff homer Hernandez has launched this year.
Following Hernandez, Amed Rosario hit a blooper to the left side that Wander Franco lost in the sun and was ruled a single.
The Indians threatened again in the third with runners on first and second with only one down, but a fly out to right and a Bobby Bradley strikeout got Yarbrough out of trouble.
The Rays also left two runners stranded in the visitors half of the fourth inning in a series. It was a relief for a Tribe team that had been giving up big innings to the Rays offense over the course of the series.
Nelson Cruz laced his 21st homer of the campaign to dead center to give the Rays a 2-1 cushion in the sixth frame.
McKenzie delivered another strong start for Cleveland with six innings pitched with two runs on five hits and a walk while collecting six whiffs. He had an efficient pitch mix, nailing 63 of 87 pitches for strikes.
Yarbrough went seven innings for the Rays, giving up a run on five hits and a walk. He also sent down six batters on strikes, with 92 pitches, 67 of them called for strikes.
The Indians once again tried to rally with Hernandez and Rosario on base with nobody out in the eighth. This time, Harold Ramirez came through by lining a 1-2 pitch to the right field grass for an RBI and knotted the game at two apiece.
The Indians finally took the lead a batter later with Bobby Bradley hitting a ball just deep enough to allow Rosario to slide in safely as the go-ahead run.
Emmanuel Clase locked down the ninth and the save to put the Indians a game over .500 entering deadline week.
------Tidbits------
Tito out again
Terry Francona was at home still dealing with a head cold for the second straight game with DeMarlo Hale filling in. The victory in today’s contest is credited to Francona’s record
Late scratch
Franmil Reyes was removed from the lineup minutes before the game with what the team termed as lower back spasms. Reyes has been excellent since being activated from the injured list in early July, hitting .277/.309/.569 with six home runs and 16 RBI.
Other injury news
The Indians activated reliever Cam Hill from the 60-day injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Columbus. Hill was in a car accident during the offseason and appears to still be building back up.
To accommodate Hill on the 40-man roster, Indians All-Star and staff ace Shane Bieber was transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day IL. Club president Chris Antonetti said Bieber had still been playing catch on flat ground and had not yet started official progression to get back on the mound.
Bieber was placed on the injured list June 14 and will be eligible to be activated August 13 at the earliest.
Pitching deep
Saturday night was the first time since May 7-11 that three Cleveland starters had pitched six or more innings in consecutive games. With McKenzie’s outing in the series finale, that mark stretched to four consecutive games, something not accomplished since the 2020 campaign.
________________________________________________________
Sean Fitzgerald is a Kent State graduate and the press box correspondent for Mark One Sports and CLE TribeCast. Follow him on Twitter @fitzonsportsbsr.
