Indians survive to beat Mariners 6-3 in 12 innings despite leaving 17 on base

Indians 6, Mariners 3 (12 innings)

box score

Indians improve to 24-26

The Indians had scoring opportunities in virtually every one of their at-bats today. For most of the game you had a sinking feeling that those missed opportunities would haunt the team at the end of the game. But it didn't, and after 12 innings, the Indians left Seattle with a hard-fought series win.

The main events of the game, in case you missed it:

• Danny Salazar pitched well for four innings, then lost control in the fifth inning. Salazar had had occasional trouble getting on top of his fastball through the early innings, but had pitched through it. After Logan Morrison singled to open the fifth, Salazar walked light-hitting Brad Miller. Dustin Ackley laid down a sacrifice bunt, but third baseman Mike Aviles threw the ball away, and the Mariners would score 3 runs before inning ended. Danny would start the sixth, but would be pulled after getting one out.
• The Indians scored two runs in the sixth. Ryan Raburn led off the inning with a home run, and Michael Bourn would later drive home a run with a single. That hit would until the 12th inning be the only Tribe base hit with runners in scoring position.
• The Indians tied the game in the eighth when Jason Kipnis hit an 0-2 pitch into the outfield, and drove home Michael Bourn from third. Kipnis had two hits on the day, giving him 51 for the month of May, which placed  him in very select company.
• The Indians broke the tie in the 12th, taking advantage of Dominic Leone's wildness. The Mariners ran out of relievers they wanted to throw, and then had to put Leone in the game. Michael Brantley walked with the bases loaded, then David Murphy broke the game open with only the second hit with runners in scoring position on the afternoon.

Indians currently have 16 hits & 3 runs. Game's not over, but last time CLE had 16+ hits with no more than 3 runs? July 13, 1979.

— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) May 31, 2015

The reason the Indians were still in the game was the relief pitching, which held the Mariners in check through the end of regulation and into extra innings. Terry Francona would use seven of the eight available relievers today, including using recent callup Austin Adams in the bottom of the 12th after the Indians took the lead. Adams retired the Mariners in order to get his first major-league save; in this case the Indians won the game because their last man in the bullpen was better than the Mariners' last man in the bullpen.

With the win, the Indians jumped the White Sox into fourth place in the AL Central, and got to within two game of .500 for the first time since April 12th, when they were 2-4. The team ended the month of May with a 17-12 record, a massive improvement over April's 7-14 record.

Win-Expectancy Chart

Source: FanGraphs

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