Helmetless Jose Ramirez's 3-for-5 night leads Cleveland Indians over Royals

Indians 9, Royals 5

Box Score

Indians advance to (!!!!)77-76(!!!!)

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Our national nightmare is over! Break out the champagne, launch the fireworks, and illuminate some random building in downtown Cleveland with the Tribe colors, because the Cleveland Indians finally have a winning record. After flirting with a record of .500 or better for weeks, the Tribe finally came through tonight thanks to Jose Ramirez, of all people, and some big time hits from the Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor.

Carlos Santana kicked off the Indians scoring with a two-run triple in the first that scored Kipnis and Lindor. Despite jumping out early, the lead never felt safe until the very end. Josh Tomlin did not look terrible, but he has had better nights. The Kansas City Royals offense got to him several times over his 3 1/3 inning of work. Three of his five allowed runs came in one third-inning collapse that saw Salvador Perez and Alcides Escobar hit runs home on a double and a single to second.

The story of this game, obviously, is Jose Ramirez. With his helmet predictably flying off nearly every time, the Angry Hamster led the Tribe with three hits; a single, a double, and a triple. He could not manage a home run to complete the helmetless cycle, but his table-setting ability while hitting second in the order allowed Lindor and Santana behind him to rack up the runs batted in and help overcome Tomlin’s issues.

All told, the top three of Kipnis, Ramirez, and Lindor accounted for seven of the Indians 12 hits, four runs batted in, and six runs.

On the less-than-good-news front, Lonnie Chisenhall was taken out of the game in the third inning. He did not look like he had much of a hustle running out a groundball to first base, but wound up safe thanks to Eric Hosmer botching a scoop on a short hop. Chisenhall, as we later learned from Andre Knott, was taken out as a precaution due to his leg cramping. Luckily it does not sound too serious, and he should be available going forward.

Tomorrow night will mark the Tribe’s final road game of the season, and they could cap it off with a sweep of the playoff-bound Kansas City Royals. Even if the Indians season is over in a week, making the Royals grumpy before the seasons end is at least an okay consolation.

Win Expectancy Chart

Source: FanGraphs

Roll Call