Ball Played: Duffy’s wild while Indians come up aces

The big news on Wednesday night was that Nick Swisher would be putting his headband back on to protect his possibly receding hairline after not wearing a headband in the first game against the Kansas City Royals. Or, it was the big news that the Cleveland Indians cancelled a Yan Gomes knee brace giveaway. Wait, no those are altered headlines from real narratives about the Cleveland Cavaliers Game 2 against the Chicago Bulls.

Few would find fault with Cleveland fans that preferred to watch the NBA Playoffs instead of a game 790 miles away including the Indians who entered the night 9-16 on the season. So, let this post serve as a way to catch up on a game that went much like the Cavaliers game in that the Indians jumped out to a lead early and cruised to a 10-3 win over the Kansas City Royals.

Key Moments of the Game

Left-handed starters with surname starting with D:

The Indians have struggled against left-handed starters for the most part. The ephemeral stool emollient to the constipated offensive output against left-handed pitchers has been when the surname of the starting left-handed pitcher has been a D¹. John Danks of the Chicago White Sox struggled in both his starts against the Indians².

Danny Duffy came into Wednesday night on the back of two extremely strong games against the White Sox and Detroit Tigers having given up a single run in over 12 innings pitched. However, on Wednesday night, Duffy had the control of a sixteen year old who had just received his license and been given the keys to his father’s Corvette.

The Indians started the game off strong with Jason Kipnis driving the ball to right field and Carlos Santana singling to center. It was only the heroics of Lorenzo Cain and Salvador Perez that saved Duffy there as Kipnis was thrown out at home. After Brantley pushed Carlos to third base on a ground ball, Danny could not locate the plate while throwing three balls before finally hitting Ryan Raburn.

On the first pitch to Brandon Moss, Salvador Perez was able to corral another wild offering, but he did so at the expense of his throwing hand, which he hurt. That hurt hand seemed to still be bothering Salvador as the next pitch screamed through the right-handed batter’s box and all the way to the backstop as Carlos Santana scored the games first run. Moss eventually grounded out to mercifully end the Indians half of the first inning.

However, in the second inning, Duffy was no better. Nick Swisher singled, Mike Aviles was hit by yet another wild pitch, Lonnie “Foul Ball” Chisenhall fouled off five pitches in an at bat that saw him double, the mighty Brett Hayes drove in a run, and Jason Kipnis got his second hit early in the night. In fact, the only thing that kept the game close in the early innings was that on each successive hit to the OF the Indians were terrified that the great Royals OF would make an impossible catch. As such, the runners held their positions until the ball was stained green and not being able to advance as far as was possible.

Without getting an out in the second inning and leaving runners on first and second, Danny Duffy finally delivered his first well-located ball when he handed it over to Ned Yost to complete his outing. Brandon Finnegan came in and proceeded to entice the best two hitters in the Cleveland lineup (Carlos Santana and Michael Brantley) to strike out and ground into a double-play to end the inning and close the books on Danny Duffy.

[Related: Nine reasons to be optimistic about the Tribe]

Cookie in Control:

While the offense was beleaguering poor Danny Duffy, Carlos Carrasco was quietly having a solid night. He cruised through the first eight batters of the game though technically received some help in the first inning when Ryan Raburn (yes, Raburn) threw out Mike Moustakas at second base from the left field foul line. Even when Christian Colon became the first batter to reach base safely in the third inning, Carlos proceeded to strike out Alex Gordon to end the threat.

On a normal night, perhaps the monstrous 411 foot 2-run home run that Carrasco gave up to Kendrys Morales would have seemed disastrous. However, with the Indians offense scoring runs, that one hit was a mere ripple in the offing of this game.

The only trouble that Carrasco truly had on the night was in the sixth inning when Michael Brantley’s poor range for a center fielder was demonstrated on a ball that Michael Bourn would have likely caught ended up falling to the turf and rolling all the way to the wall for register a triple for Lorenzo Cain rather than end the inning. Eric Hosmer took advantage as he tends to do to score the run though Carrasco ensured that was the extend of the Royals runs.

Also, Jason Kipnis was kind enough to explain the origin of the Cookie nickname.

Spanish for Carrasco. https://t.co/awlZz5J8DY

— Jason Kipnis (@TheJK_Kid) May 7, 2015

Hits for Everyone:

A full team effort was on display as the Indians registered five extra base hits from four different players and the entire starting nine position players ended the day with a hit. In fact, six of the nine made it on base twice in the game with Jason Kipnis and Mike Aviles reaching base three times each. The only player to receive an at bat and not get a hit was Michael Bourn who pinch ran for Ryan Raburn and scored a run himself.

Key Moment Scorecard:
Kansas City Royals: 0
Cleveland Indians: 3

Old Friends; Help or Haunt

No trick or treatin’ today kids.

The Nine

Jason Kipnis: 2-for-4 plus a walk on the night and provided the spark on offense. Even when he was thrown out at home, it was nice to at least see him make the aggressive play.

Carlos Santana: Another patient day for Carlos. His power is still severely lacking and he did not register an extra base hit in this game, but that is not a worry for this moment.

Michael Brantley: The Indians best hitter had perhaps the quietest night including going 0-for-2 with RISP.

Ryan Raburn: Throwing out guys on the basepaths and hitting doubles is just what Ryan does these days. I am thankful that I was completely out of line to rant about him after Opening Day.

Brandon Moss: When Brandon Moss has a big day, the entire offense has a big day. Just like the 13-1 win against the Detroit Tigers, Brandon Moss was a big part of this win including a nice exclamation point home run in the ninth inning off Jason Frasor.

Nick Swisher: Swish got his first hit since returning in his first at bat. He is only 1-for-9 thus far though.

Mike Aviles: Aviles singled to each Royal outfielder on the night after being hit by a pitch in his first at bat. Apparently, it is bad form to anger Handsome Mike.

Lonnie Chisenhall: Yes, he had an error on a ball that he should have been able to catch. However, he also made a fantastic diving grab to rob Omar Infante of a hit in the fifth inning. He has been surprisingly effective at third base this year and he is currently on a five game hitting streak.

Brett Hayes: Brett had a solid game. He knocked in a run, executed a sacrifice perfectly and blocked a couple of pitches from Carrasco. For a night, he was everything you want a backup catcher to be.

The Arms

Carlos Carrasco: Three runs, two walks, six strike outs, and five hits in seven innings of work, while using less than 100 pitches. Carlos was in control and never tried to do too much on a night he just needed to cruise to the win.

Marc Rzepczynski: Apparently, Carrasco put a cockroach in his cleats before the game because he has a bit of a phobia when it comes to insects. However, Scrabble did not let that effect him by the time he took over for Carlos as he worked a clean eight inning.

Zach McAllister: Zach Attack combined with Scrabble to pitch a perfect relief sequence. They each only took twelve pitches in their respective innings, but Zach did best Marc in strike outs two to one.

1. Disclaimer: Yes, that is mere trivia and does not warrant any scientific evidence to predict future results. It’s also fun. [↩]
2. 10.2IP, 12 Hits, 4 BB, 7 SO, 7 runs, 5.91 ERA [↩]