Ball Played: Indians’ Stipe night a rousing success

The narrative is Cleveland native Stipe Miocic, on the night Believeland aired across the country, ripped off the championship drought bandaid when he defeated Fabricio Werdum in Brazil to claim the UFC heavyweight belt. Whether or not you follow UFC, seeing an athlete competing at the highest level extol such gratitude and love about the Northcoast is wonderful to see. Perhaps the Cleveland Cavaliers and Indians can continue their recent trend of treating opponents in the same fashion as Miocic does his?

On Tuesday, both the Cavs and Indians annihilated their opponents, but only the Indians 13-1 win was a knockout blow as the second straight victory over the Cincinnati Reds ensured the Tribe will retain the Ohio Cup in 2016.¹

According to mlb.com’s Jordan Bastian, Miocic is good friends with Indians catcher Yan Gomes, so it is of no surprise Miocic would take a day to hang out with the team upon his return to The Land. The high-energy mood was set as many Indians took turns posing with the champion and getting their hands on that belt.

Cleveland's new Champ! Congratulations @stipemiocicufc pic.twitter.com/OIiV9lYY1E

— Carlos Carrasco (@Cookie_Carrasco) May 17, 2016

And, remember, Miocic is a Cleveland State guy who played college baseball. So, while he claims his position was “bench,” he also knows how to show off being a right-handed power bat. According to multiple reports, Joey Votto was quick to remind Gomes after a ball ricocheted off the left field wall in the second inning that Miocic’s batting practice smash had cleared that same wall.

On his last swing of the day, @stipemiocicufc goes yard. The Indians celebrate. pic.twitter.com/aQcVznpWF3

— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) May 17, 2016

Let’s not forget to appreciate Danny Salazar

Other than the oddity of manager Terry Francona using a blowout victory to still pitch his normal eighth- and ninth-inning stalwarts in Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen (1.2 IP, 0 hits, 1 walk, 1 SO), the other somewhat lost item in the craziness of scoring 28 runs in two games is that Danny Salazar has turned himself into an outright beast in 2016. And, thanks to not being in the same league as Clayton Kershaw (NL, Los Angeles Dodgers), he is positioning himself to be in the middle of the AL’s Cy Young Award conversation.

The five hits the Reds managed to record happened to be the most that Salazar has allowed in a start this season. By only allowing a solitary walk, Salazar remained in control of his side of the game. The Reds also only scored one run off of Salazar, while he struck out eight batters in his 7 1/3 IP. At one point, Salazar sat 15 hitters down in a row:

https://vine.co/v/i0PeTag6rt2

Per Fangraphs, for 2016 amongst AL starters, Salazar now has an ERA of 1.80 (3rd), 2.63 FIP (3rd), 1.6 WAR (3rd), 31% K-rate (1st), 19.3% K:BB rate (4th), 1.00 WHIP (4th), and 0.36 HR/9 (3rd). He also has the most valuable changeup, eighth most valuable slider, and 12th most valuable fastball. The full bag of pitching tricks is working for Salazar in 2016, which is an absolutely welcome sign. Looks like David Schoenfield may have just been a year early in his prediction.

Generous Delabar gave away more then Tribe needed

If the Indians were no-hit on Tuesday, but Steve Delabar still had his exact outing, then they would have won the game. By walking five of the six batters he faced, he guaranteed the Indians two runs. Since there were runners on first and third when he entered, the Tribe scored four runs just out of the courtesy of his less than effective command.

https://vine.co/v/i0PZI7jmBA2

If one were apt to recall intently Ohio Cup games of the past — and who among us doesn’t recount those tales fireside each summer? — then it would be remembered that the Ohio Cup was won in 2015 via the courtesy of four bases-loaded walks as WFNY’s Andrew Clayman recorded thusly:

In quite possibly the most bizarre game of a pretty reliably bizarre 2015 season, the Indians did — in fact — walk their way to a 5-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday in 11 innings, drawing 10 free passes and scoring a ridiculous four times on bases loaded walks — the most by any club since 1992.

So, yes, the Indians have had four bases-loaded walks in a game against the Reds in each of the past two seasons.

Beastmode Indians

The Reds pitching outside Delabar was a bit more hittable. While the Indians were walked five times in one third of an inning against Delabar, they only had four walks in the other 7 2/3 IP by the other Reds pitchers. However, the 17 hits in those other innings made up for things a bit.

https://vine.co/v/i0P70tUPaWJ

The pregame statistics showed Alfredo Simon was in over his head with the matchup against Salazar, and the results bore it out. Heck, there was so much goodness, let’s just list out the Indians players hits per inning here. Those in bold scored, italics indicates a walk.

• 1st: Francisco Lindor
• 2nd: Gomes, Marlon Byrd, Rajai Davis, Carlos Santana, Jason Kipnis, Lindor(2B)
• 3rd: Jose Ramirez, Lonnie Chisenhall, Davis(2B), Santana
• 4th: Mike Napoli
• 5th: Chisenhall (2B), Davis, Santana, Kipnis, Napoli, Ramirez, Gomes, Chisenhall
• 6th: Davis, Santana, Napoli
• 7th: Chisenhall, Davis
• 8th: Lindor (2B)

https://vine.co/v/i0PZOtp0bnQ

The 51 times the Indians reached base (hits + walks) over the two-game home sweep of the Reds is barely more than the 47 times reaching base from the past four games in which the team went 1-3 against the Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins. The same holds up for the 36 hits compared to the 38 hits during the poor stretch. However, the Tribe was much better at capitalizing on those run-scoring opportunities by scoring 28 runs (against Reds) versus 14 (against Twins / Astros). Once again, sequencing proves (which can be mostly good fortune) an incredibly important component in baseball.

In all though, nights that see players such as Rajai Davis (3-for-3, two walks), Lonnie Chisenhall (2-for-3, one walk), and Mike Napoli (2-for-4, one walk) contribute demonstrate that the Indians offense has the capability of providing the necessary firepower to turn the club into a true World Series contender.

The Numbers – Stipe knockout edition

• Lonnie Chisenhall is looking healthy: despite missing some time last week, another solid night puts him at 11-for-34 with a .367/.441/.467 slash since May 4.
• Rajai Davis is looking spry: Following an 0-for-18 stretch (with zero walks), Davis has enjoyed the Reds pitching going 5-for-7 with four walks in the past two games.
• Carlos Santana has reached base in nine straight games: The Indians best lead-off hitter is .250/.364/.389 in that stretch as he continues to populate the basepaths.
• Jose Ramirez showing no ill-effects of jamming his hand: J-Ram has continued to be among the most consistent Indians hitters as he has gone .368/.478/.474 in five games since returning from a minor hand injury.

1. Only four games this year between the Reds and Indians and the Tribe had held the cup in 2015. A tie would have the cup remain with the current holder, so holding serve at home by winning two games was enough. [↩]