Indians vs. Rangers, Game 75: A social media oral history

The Cleveland Indians defeated the Texas Rangers 15-9 tonight in one of the strangest and most exhilarating baseball games you’re likely to see all season. A game like this is difficult to distill and describe in one cohesive narrative. Rebounding from a 9-2 deficit, the Indians scored 13 unanswered runs in the biggest come-from-behind win since 2012. Perhaps Rick Manning described it best when saying, “This game went from a rout to a rout.”

Rather than take away the essence of what happened tonight, I’d prefer to use twitter and reddit to show, as the game progressed, how the mood of the evening changed in Indians fandom.

7:20pm

7:42pm

7:43pm

While the evening started off rough, it turned downright ugly very fast. The mood became dark.

7:58pm

8:34pm

Then, the Indians manager started to feel sick again and had to step away from the game. It seemed like everything would continue to go wrong for the Indians. Or, maybe, would it serve as a catalyst?

Bottom of the fifth inning begins, and so does the comeback

Chisenhall beats out the throw on an infield single to first, scoring Jose Ramirez. Score: 9-4

Roberto Perez draws a bases loaded walk. Score: 9-5

Bradley Zimmer hits a nubber in the infield, but beats out the throw to first, scoring a run and dodging an inning-ending double play. Score: 9-6

Francisco Lindor singles, scoring Lonnie Chisenhall. Score: 9-7, inning ending a moment later with a Kipnis out.

Meanwhile, Dan Otero, Boone Logan, and Bryan Shaw shut the Rangers down in the top of the sixth. This set the stage for the following...

The Rangers make another move in the bullpen, putting in a lefty against Brandon Guyer.

He singles. Lonnie Chisenhall comes to the plate and continues his phenomenal offensive campaign:

The onslaught continued, and it was glorious.

And now, a brief summation

Not only did the Indians complete an insane comeback tonight, but a number of other ludicrous things happened

• The Twins lost, and so the Indians are back in first place
• The leadoff hitter reached base in every single inning for the Indians
• Jose Ramirez is now in the top 8 in fWAR for all of baseball.
• Every single Indians hitter recorded a hit, and Jason Kipnis is the only one to log only one.
• Roberto Perez tried to sacrifice bunt at one point but ended up walking instead. He raised his OBP percentage by more than 25 points.

Looking back on the 2016 season, it feels like a season of huge moments to me. The winning streak, culminating in the marathon 19 inning win over the Blue Jays. The inside-the-park walk-off by Tyler Naquin, punctuated with the arrival of the Chisentray. Rajai Davis hitting for the cycle. The slug bunt. Napoli nearly breaking the scoreboard. The blockbuster trade to get Miller, and his subsequent dominance. The three home runs off of Rick Porcello in one inning to start the ALDS. Kluber striking out eight through three innings to start the World Series. And the entire rollercoaster that was Game 7 of the World Series.

I know that I’m missing some moments, and if so, it’s because I’m basking in this one. I hope we can look back at tonight 87 games from now and recognize it as the first of many incredible nights of Indians summer baseball.

Tomorrow the Indians play the Rangers again, and good lord do I feel bad for the Texas bullpen.