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Just as my girlfriend and I were leaving our friend's house yesterday evening, the host's brother came up to me and said "your boys just lost the lead". Much to my dismay, he wasn't kidding; Danny Salazar had just given up the game tying home run. Luckily, after getting home and tuning in to the end of the game, I was treated to a signature Hammy call of Napoli's bomb to the bleachers in left. It was truly a perfect way to end a long weekend. Onto the news!
Indians 5, Tigers 3
LGT Recap | Cleveland.com Recap | Box Score
I keep thinking that I'm going to get tired of hearing "And the Cleveland Indians have won another game against the Detroit Tigers", but it just gets better with each repetition. After an almost two and a half hour rain delay, the Tribe clinched the season series against the Tigers as Francisco Lindor and Mike Napoli had a pair of RBIs behind Danny Salazar's 5.2 innings of work. It's a scary thought, but if the Indians and Tigers had split the 10 games that they've faced each other to this point in the season, the Tigers would be in first place in the division with a record of 49-34 and the Indians would be 3.5 games back of first with a record of 45-37. Instead, the Tribe has dominated the Tigers all season long and has a nice 6.5 game lead in the AL Central.
Indians news
Despite all of the Tribe's success up to this point in the season, I really, really miss Michael Brantley. Thankfully, for myself and Tribe fans across the cosmos, Dr. Smooth looks set to take some BP prior to Tuesday's game. Getting Brantley back for the second half would be huge; here's to a quick, healthy BP session!
Our own Matt Schlichting did a great midseason review for LGT yesterday, and it looks like Zach Meisel did the same for Cleveland.com. If you read Matt's recap, you'll know that there's a lot to be happy about right now for the Cleveland Indians.
On July 4, 2016, the Cleveland Indians DFA'd Chamberlain and Gorzelanny. On July 3, 2015, the Detroit Tigers DFA'd Chamberlain and Gorzelanny. DFA buddies for life!
Around the League
- Ryan Braun was called out because he batted out of order on Monday's game.
- Yahoo Sports has released its "midseason awards", and the Indians have representation from Danny Salazar, Francisco Lindor, and Terry Francona.
- The Cincinatti Reds have been some kind of terrible this season, and the ramifications have begun to hit the coaching staff as pitching coach Mark Riggins has been relieved of his duties.
- Bryce Harper continues his attempts at making baseball fun again, and MLB continues to be a major buzzkill.
- And finally, one eagle in Los Angeles showed us what it truly means to be free:
So the trained bald eagle flying around Dodger Stadium pregame just flew past its handler, out of the park and didn't come back #Murica
— Greg Beacham (@gregbeacham) July 5, 2016