It took the Cleveland Indians three times, but they finally came out victorious against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Spring Training.
It took some help from the reserves but the Cleveland Indians defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-3 Thursday. This was the third and final meeting between the clubs this spring and it was the first victory for Cleveland, Arizona took the first two.
The Indians only managed five hits compared to Arizona’s nine. While volume was not in their favor, it was when the hits came that mattered. After Arizona got out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, Cleveland tied it up in the top of the third thanks to a Trayce Thompson RBI double. However this would not last as the Diamondbacks retook the lead in the fifth inning. A two-run seventh inning propelled the Indians to victory. Daniel Johnson drove in Ernie Clement and Oscar Mercado would score on a wild pitch.
It was an ominous start for Trevor Bauer on the mound. Bauer gave up a leadoff single to Ketel Marte and Wilmer Flores followed with a two-run shot to give Arizona the lead. After that Bauer settled down and would go on to pitch four innings, allowing five hits and striking out two batters. The other run surrendered by Cleveland was off of Adam Cimber, Cimber gave up a solo home run to Caleb Joseph.
The group of Justin Grimm, Nick Wittgren, Asher Wojciechowski and Henry Martinez would follow Cimber and shut down the Arizona offense. The only hit allowed came against Grimm. Grimm also walked one batter as did Martinez. What does matter is that no runners scored over the final four innings and the Indians came away victorious.
The Indians will look to stretch their winning streak to four games as they take on the San Francisco Giants at 8:05 P.M. Friday night.
