The Indians finally beat the Yankees

Rejoice! The Cleveland Indians have finally experienced the euphoria of beating the New York Yankees this season, squeaking out a 6-5 victory on Friday night.

Rookie starting pitcher Shane Bieber succeeded where Corey Kluber could not, limiting the Yankees to four runs over seven innings pitched, recording six strikeouts and two walks.

The Indians didn’t take long to open things up against Yankees starter Domingo German. Francisco Lindor and Michael Brantley reached on back-to-back walks, before both advancing on a wild pitch. Jose Ramirez delivered a sac fly to score Lindor and give the Tribe a 1-0 lead.

In the second inning, Yan Gomes sent an RBI double to deep left field, scoring Tyler Naquin from first base. Two batters later, Lindor would walk again and both he and Gomes scored on a Brantley double, extending the Indians’ lead to 4-0.

The Yankees did most of their damage in the fifth inning. Bieber cruised through the first four innings, but allowed the first three batters to reach base in the fifth. Neil Walker doubled in Greg Bird to get the Yankees on the board, then a wild pitch allowed Miguel Andujar to score from third. A sacrifice fly from Brett Gardner cut the deficit to 4-3.

The Indians afforded themselves some breathing room and knocked German out of the game in the process the following inning. Ramirez’s triple scored Brantley, before an Edwin Encarnacion walk and a Yonder Alonso RBI single led to a 6-3 lead.

Aside from a Gardner RBI groundout in the eighth inning, the game was uneventful until the ninth inning, when Cody Allen opened the inning with a home run to Giancarlo Stanton and a Bird single. Fortunately, he was able to escape by the skin of his teeth.