Cleveland Indians continue dominance over Tigers in 6-0 victory

Indians 6, Tigers 0

Box Score

Indians improve to 43-30

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Another day, another Cleveland Indians victory over the Detroit Tigers. If it still feels odd to consider this commonplace, you're not alone. From 2013-2015, the Tribe had a dismal 19-37 record against their rivals in the Motor City. This season, however, the script has been flipped in the best way possible. With today's victory, the Cleveland Indians are now 8-0 against the Tigers, and they have also now won eight games straight to bring their overall record  to 43-30. Today, all facets of the Tribe were on display, which culminated in a decisive shutout victory over the Tigers.

The game started out on an exciting note when Lando Slamtana (aka Carlos Santana) launched a mammoth solo home run to the bleachers in right on the second pitch of the game off of Anibal Sanchez. Sanchez left a changeup over the middle of the plate, and Santana made him pay and gave the Indians the winning run after about 43 seconds of game time. Things didn't improve for Sanchez either; a mere eight pitches later, the "defense first" shortstop Francisco Lindor hit a home run to the same area in RF. Jose Angry Hamster Ramirez almost made it 3 solo homers in the first inning, but Mike Aviles(!) made a terrific leaping grab at the wall in RF to end the inning. Unfortunately for the Tigers, two runs would be an insurmountable obstacle to overcome as Carlos Carrasco returned to form.

In the four starts since returning from the DL, Carlos Carrasco has been unable to fully recapture his ace-like abilities. There have been moments in which he showed flashes of his greatness, but everything wasn't able to click like it had been prior to the injury. Thankfully, Cookie returned to his fully dominant form today in Detroit, notching a complete game shutout on four hits. He had every single pitch in his arsenal working today. Of note, his fastball was sitting in the mid to upper 90s all game, and his slider and curveball were breaking in all the right places to fool the Detroit hitters. The at-bat of the game, for me, came in the bottom of the first against Miguel Cabrera:

The last pitch of the at-bat was a 91 MPH fastball that had beautiful running action. Cabrera, thinking that the pitch was going to be inside, leaped out of the way just as the pitch darted over the plate for a called strike three.I don't think I've ever seen Cabrera fooled as badly as he was on that pitch, and it was a great indicator for the rest of the game. Carrasco would go on to strikeout six more Tigers while only walking one.

The Indians, by all accounts, had the game wrapped up after the first inning, but that didn't stop them from continuing to dominate the Tigers from an offensive standpoint. The Tribe tacked on four more over the course of the game, two of which came from home runs by Francisco Lindor and Yan Gomes(!!!).

Tidbits from today's game:

• Jason Kipnis left the game and was replaced by Michael Martinez in the bottom of the seventh inning. Reports afterwards say that Kip left due to illness, so unless the Zika Virus has found its way to Detroit, it shouldn't be too serious.
• With a home run in the first and a home run in the eighth, Francisco Lindorable had his first career multi-home run game.
• Gomes' BABIP woes continue. The HR in the ninth did not improve his BABIP, and a scorched-should've-been-a-double in the second was caught, much to the chagrin of all involved parties. One of our staff writers, Matt Schlichting, penned this eloquent response: "Hey look, BABIP just stabbed Gomes in the face." Well put, Matt.
• Tyler Naquin continues to steal all of Gomes' BABIP luck by getting a bloop double as well as a triple. I personally love Naquin, so I am okay with this.

Everything was beautiful in this boner jam: incredible pitching, dominant hitting, solid fielding. Tomorrow, the Tribe looks to get their THIRD SWEEP AGAINST THE DETRIOT TIGERS. Josh Tomlin looks to keep the good times rolling against the surging Justin Verlander. Day baseball is the best baseball, and tomorrow's game starts at 1:10 PM ET.