Indians beat White Sox 4-1 as Trevor Bauer strikes out seven

Indians 4, White Sox 1

Well, Trevor Bauer gave up another home run, and he issued his first walk of the spring.

But...

...aside from those two things though, he pitched really well today, with a final line of 7 strikeouts and the 1 walk in 6.1 innings, with only 4 hits allowed. If he wants to limit himself to 5 base runners a start, I can live with the occasional long ball.

Bauer is set as the Tribe's #3 starter, and for the most part he's pitched well enough this spring for me to feel more confident in him than I have at any other point during his time with the team. As I mentioned, today was the first time he walked a batter all spring, and he's struck out almost a batter per inning. Those are the two spring stats for pitchers that have been shown to be most predictive for the regular season (whereas giving up back-to-back-to-back home runs to top Cubs prospects has never meant much before).

All four of today's relievers are set to be on the Opening Day roster; Marc Rzepczynski, Anthony Swarzak, Nick Hagadone, and Scott Atchison all worked without allowing any runs, none of them allowing more than one batter to reach base.

It was a good day for the pitchers.

The offense wasn't gangbusters, but did hit three home runs. (Maybe that along should qualify as gangbusters, I don't know.) Willie "Mays" Brett Hayes hitting one, his third of the spring, which might be the only time he wears a Tribe uniform. Jerry Sands hit one too. The winning dinger (You're not the boss of me, AP Stylebook!), in terms of generating excitement, came off the bat of 2014 1st round pick, Bradley Zimmer. He's unlikely to arrive in Cleveland before 2017, but he profiles as a potential All-Star, so it's exciting to know he's now put one out of the park in a game while wearing a Tribe uniform.

If you're looking for offense from someone who'll actually be on the Opening Day roster, Carlos Santana was your man today. He went 1 for 2 and drew a pair of walks. I love you, Carlos, don't ever change.

The Indians will close out the month of March by hosting the Mariners Tuesday afternoon. Bruce Chen will start for the Tribe. He'll be opposed by Felix Hernandez, giving Indians hitters a chance to get some cuts in against your reigning Cy Young runner up.