Category: Cleveland Indians (Page 18 of 96)

There was a bittersweet moment in the eighth for Travis Hafner and the Indians. Hafner, with the bases loaded, got beaned on the hand. The HBP awarded Pronk his 110th RBI, which breaks a single-season Indians record for RBIs by a DH. He reached a treasured milestone in the game, but at what cost? Unfortunately, Travis had to be taken out of the game after his hand swelled up. No word yet on the extent of the injury. Let’s pray it’s not a broken bone.

Nothing can seem to stop the Tribe these days. Not even a day off. The Tribe continued on the winning trail with a 7-2 win over the Texas Rangers Friday night, making it their fourth win in a row and 17th in the last 22 games. Grady Sizemore got it all started in the first with a leadoff double. The Indians turned it into a three-run inning and didn’t look back. Sizemore, however, was not done. He ripped a home run the very next inning and added another double later on to finish the night 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBI. Andy Marte also had a solid night, going 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Jake Westbrook won yet another game, his 12th of the season and fifth in his last six starts. He gave up two runs and struck out six in seven innings.

Another superb job by the bullpen and a clutch home run gave the Indians a sweep of the Blue Jays as they won 3-2 in walk-off fashion Wednesday night. Jeremy Sowers continued his fantastic pitching. He didn’t get the win but kept the Tribe in the game, allowing two runs in 5 2/3 innings. The runs both came in the sixth when Sowers ran into a little trouble. Thankfully, the resurgent Tribe bullpen came to the rescue and put up zeros on the board the rest of the way. Fernando Cabrera and Rafael Betancourt pitched over four scoreless innings of relief leading up to the extra-inning heroics. Jhonny Peralta sent one to the right field seats in the bottom of the 10th off B.J Ryan to give the Indians their second series sweep of the month. The Indians got all three of their runs on solo homers, the other two coming from Travis Hafner, who hit number 41 and 42.

The Indians close the month of August on a tear, winning seven of eight. Overall, they finished 18-10 in the month and are “only” six games under .500.

Sabathia has now gone at least eight innings in five of his last six starts. The season is over but C.C is pitching like it’s playoff time in October. Every time he takes the hill he wants to pitch a complete game. It’s been debated over the course of his Indians career whether or not he is, or can be, an ace of a pitching staff. He has shown the ability to dominate, but has also done things to tick off Indians fans, such as mouthing off to umpires and losing control of himself when things don’t go his way.

Ace or not, one thing is certain. Sabathia is a workhorse and can give you quality innings. His league-leading five complete games can attest to that. His heart and passion can’t go unnoticed and you have to love his bulldog mentality of wanting the ball in his hands at all times. He can go the distance every time he steps out on the mound, something several other starters in the league can’t say about themselves.

The Indians are running on all cylinders. They continued on their winning ways, beating the Blue Jays 5-2 Tuesday night for their sixth win in their last seven games. C.C Sabathia went the distance for his Major-League best fifth complete game. Sabathia struck out six and allowed four hits in the game.

Some timely hitting by the offense also helped the Tribe get the win. Trailing 2-1 going into the bottom of the seventh, the bats came alive. The Indians loaded the bases and got RBI’s by Andy Marte, Sizemore, and Michaels to pull them ahead 4-2. They added one more in the eighth for good measure. Not to be outdone, Travis Hafner made history when he blasted his 40th home run of the season in the first inning. Pronk becomes the seventh Indian in history to reach the mark.