Indians obliterate scorching Reds in Battle for Ohio finale

Photo Credit: Sean Fitzgerald

By: Sean Fitzgerald

The Battle for Ohio and the Ohio Cup resumed in earnest Monday evening at Progressive Field after the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds had the original finale rained out on Mother’s Day. 

While rain fell during this game, it wasn’t enough to dampen the bats. The Indians offense exploded for a 9-3 beating against one of the National League’s hottest teams, keeping the Ohio Cup in the I-71 northbound area for the seventh straight year. 

Sam Hentges toed the rubber for the Tribe, issuing a four-pitch leadoff walk to Jonathan India who came around to score on a two-out single by Joey Votto. 

Luis Castillo also let the leadoff batter reach base to open his outing, with Myles Straw pulling a ball just inside the third base and past the bag for an easy double. Amed Rosario followed Straw with a weak tapper to the left side that he beat out for an infield single. 

Franmil Reyes plated Straw with an RBI fielder’s choice, mainly due to Rosario’s hard slide into second base breaking up the double play and briefly hobbling India. The rookie infielder was sent tumbling to the ground but got to his feet and remained in the game. 

Hentges functioned as an opener for Cleveland’s bullpen day, giving the Indians two solid innings with a run on four hits. He struck out and walked one batter during his outing, throwing 39 pitches and 23 called strikes. Justin Garza came on as the first reliever out of the bullpen. 

Bradley Zimmer got beaned to start the home half of the second inning with Wilson Ramos bringing him home on a two-run shot to right field, his second in as many games played for Cleveland and eighth of the season, putting the Indians up 3-1.

Jose Ramirez got in on the action in the third, driving a ball to deep center field for an RBI triple and came around to score on a Zimmer groundout to first. 

The Indians kept pouring it on at the plate against Castillo, with Rosario coming up with his own RBI triple to plate Straw in the fourth, immediately followed by a 345-foot laser by Ramirez for two more runs and his 25th round-tripper of the campaign and an 8-1 beatdown. 

Castillo’s day ended on that Ramirez blast, getting yanked after 3 ⅓ innings, serving up eight runs on seven hits, striking out three and walking three batters, whiffing two plus a hit by pitch. Castillo’s command of the zone likely wasn’t helped by the rain, nailing 46 of 71 pitches in the strike zone. 

For the rookie Garza, he gave the team two more innings of solid work out of the bullpen, with an India double ending his day with no one out in the fifth for Blake Parker. India would come around to score a few batters later for his second run of the game. 

Zimmer, who’s been heating up for a little while, absolutely sent a no-doubter in the home-half of the seventh that flew through the Cleveland night. 

With three wins in their last four games, keeping the winning going won’t be as easy against a formidable Oakland Athletics squad the next three days.

------Tidbits------

He hit it how far?!?!

Bradley Zimmer smashed a towering shot that cleared the trees in center field to lead off the bottom of the seventh. His ball traveled 471 feet, the longest hit by an Indians batter this season. He hit a 413-foot blast Sunday against the Tigers. 

Back to .500

The Indians haven’t had a .500 record since a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays last Wednesday at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. 

Going backwards

Luis Castillo’s first four starts coming out of the All-Star break following a rocky beginning to the 2021 campaign saw him post a 1.80 ERA, equating to five earned runs across 25 innings. With today’s game alone, he posted a 21.80 ERA with the eight earned runs coming in his 3 ⅓ innings pitched. 

Bradley to the IL

After leaving Friday’s game early due to a left knee injury, first baseman Bobby Bradley wound up on the 10-day injured list today with a retroactive placement. Bradley is eligible to come off the list in about a week. Relief pitcher Francisco Perez was recalled to take the young slugger’s spot on the 26-man roster for the time being.

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Sean Fitzgerald is a Kent State graduate and the press box correspondent for Mark One Sports and CLE TribeCast. Follow him on Twitter @fitzonsportsbsr.