Jose Ramirez powers Indians past Marlins
Jose Ramirez led the Cleveland Indians offense as the Tribe managed to split the series with a 6-2 victory over the Miami Marlins.
It has been a rough start for Jose Ramirez, but sooner or later things were going to turn around. That turned out to be today as Jose Ramirez went 3-4 in the Indians 6-2 victory over the Marlins. Ramirez hit his second homer of the season in the bottom of the first inning and just kept going. Ramirez singled in the bottom of the third to bring home Leonys Martin to give Cleveland a two-run lead. In the bottom of the eighth inning Ramirez delivered the knockout blow, a two-run double to give Cleveland a 6-2 lead. This looks like the beginning of one of those hot streak that Jose is prone to go on.
Cleveland also got contributions from the recently activated Francisco Lindor. Lindor went 2-5 on the day and drove in a run during the four-run bottom of the eighth.
Jake Bauers also drove in a run during the eighth inning. Bauers singled to center and Carlos Gonzalez would score on the play. Bauers finished his day with a 1-4 line.
Jason Kipnis looks to have found a bit of his former self as he keeps on hitting. Kipnis went 1-3 in the contest and as it stands now is hitting an impressive .308 on the season. Some regression is expected but this is very encouraging from a team that had replacement level players starting in the middle infield on Opening Day.
Strong start for Jefry Rodriguez
The Indians turned to Jefry Rodriguez to get the start Wednesday and he did not disappoint. Rodriguez allowed one run on three hits over seven innings. Although he did not come away with a win, this was an impressive start for Rodriguez. This is exactly what the Indians needed to see from Rodriguez. There is still that open spot in the rotation due to the injury to Mike Clevinger. Rodriguez is making a (temporary) claim for a spot in the rotation. That is if Clevinger is able to return this season, if not Rodriguez should have plenty of opportunities to win a spot in the rotation moving forward.
Up and down bullpen yet again…
The story over the past week has been a couple bad outings from the bullpen. Ever since the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader with Atlanta the bullpen has not been good. Wednesday was no exception. Nick Wittgren came in for Rodriguez in the eighth and gave up a home run to Martin Prado with two outs in the inning. Wittgren would come away with the win, but also a blown save.
Brad Hand worked the ninth in a non-save situation and closed the game in 15 pitches. Hand struck out two of the three batters he faced to get Cleveland the much needed victory.
