Mike Aviles and Cody Allen lead Cleveland Indians to thrilling win in extras

Indians 5, Rays 4

box score

Indians improve to 37-41

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The Indians clinched a four-game sweep in thrilling style thanks to some terrific extra-innings performances by Mike "magic calves" Aviles and Cody "magic beard" Allen. Aviles jumped on the very first pitch in extras, blasting it to left field to score the go-ahead run. That bomb was just his fourth of the season, but was certainly the most timely.

Cody Allen then stepped up to strike out the side in just 10 devastating pitches to secure the victory.  In all, Allen, Bryan Shaw and Corey Kluber combined for 19 strikeouts on the afternoon.

Yet again Kluber began with a rocky 1st inning, as the Rays hit back-to-back-to-back singles with one out and then scored on a throwing error by Yan Gomes, with the Tribe quickly finding itself in a 2-0 hole. However, after a lead-off walk in the 2nd, Kluber was completely dominant for an extended spell, retiring 12 consecutive batters, half of them by strikeout.

Sadly, all his good work came undone in a nightmare 6th, when after lead-off hitter Kevin Kiermaier had doubled, the Rays singled thrice more to level the scoring at 4-4. Unperturbed as ever, Kluber came back superbly to pitch 1-2-3s in both the 7th and 8th with five more strikeouts, taking his total to 14.

On his return from TJ surgery, lefty Matt Moore pitched well for the Rays in the first three innings. All the Tribe could manage  was a Ryan Raburn walk, which was promptly nullified when Gomes ground into a double play..

The Indians' first hit came in bizarre circumstances, when Jason Kipnis led off the 4th with a soft fly ball that miraculously fell between three defenders. Lindor added a good-looking line drive single, and after a wild pitch they suddenly had runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Brantley's sac fly to left field then drove Kipnis home and the Tribe were on the board, with Lindor then moving to third on another wild pitch. But Raburn and Carlos Santana failed to capitalize and the Tribe still trailed 2-1.

However, they did take the lead in the 5th. With two outs Giovanny Urshela extended his hitting streak to a Kipnis-esque 11 games with a single, and after a wild pitch and an Aviles walk the stage was set for Kipnis, who came up with the goods again as he nonchalantly singled to left field to score Urshela. Lindor and Brantley both followed suit and the Tribe suddenly held a 4-2 lead, with Moore being pulled from the game having allowed five consecutive baserunners and with runners still on 1st and 2nd.

With a righty pitcher now up, David Murphy immediately came in to pinch-hit for Ryan Raburn and, in another strange development, reached on catcher's interference. Alas, Santana wasted another opportunity as he popped out in foul territory with the bases loaded and the inning was over.

The Tribe's offense unfortunately reverted to pre-Florida type in the next three frames, as they only had a Brandon Moss walk (again nullified by a double play, this time by Urshela) to show for nine visits to the plate. A lead-off single by Yan Gomes in the 9th also came to naught, after Brandon Moss narrowly failed to reach the fence and then Urshela hit into his second double play of the day.

And so with the score tied in the 9th, it all came down to Bryan Shaw to keep the Tribe alive, and thankfully he proved well up to the task. Shaw struck out two on his way to a clean inning, forcing the game intro extras and facilitating the 10th inning Aviles and Allen heroics.

Win Expectancy Chart

Source: FanGraphs

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