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Look, the Cleveland Indians get it. Watching your favorite baseball team demolish opponents night in and night out can get a bit repetitive. So, in a show of good faith, they decided to keep one close for our entertainment.
They even went all-out and pretended to trail in the game, acting like they couldn’t smack Gabriel Ynoa off the mound whenever they wanted. Josh Tomlin was in on the act as well, when he allowed Trey Mancini to have an RBI single in the first inning. The Baltimore Orioles even celebrated after the run as if they didn’t know the Indians were just toying with them.
The fun and games ended for Baltimore when Giovanny Urshela doubled home a run in the third. That doesn’t quite sell the hit enough, though. More accurately, Urshela blistered a ball 107.3 miles per hour until it got knocked down by the wind and was forced into just a mere double. Following that, Yandy Diaz took a swing at a high fastball on a 3-0 count and actually got a single out of it. Normally that’s a bad idea, but right now the Indians could swing at anything, with anything, and they have a good shot at scoring a run.
One inning later, the Indians took a lead off another double — this time from Carlos Santana — and a familiar story began to unfold. Tribe took lead, Tribe kept lead, Tribe won game. Even a Tim Beckham home run in the sixth to bring the game within one didn’t phase the Indians. Francisco Lindor responded shortly after with his 28th home run of the season.
Speaking of which, FRANCISCO LINDOR OH MAH GAH. The absolute Superstar is crushing the baseball with 10 of his 28 homers coming in the last month. Home run aside, he had a relatively quiet game from the lead-off spot, as were most Indians batters. While the Tribe outhit the Orioles, 9-5, only Santana finished with multiple hits.
Cody Allen got the save, most importantly, Bryan Shaw his 69th appearance out of the bullpen this season. Nice game all around, even if I’ve literally run out of ways to describe a baseball team winning by several runs.