The Cleveland Indians were able to defeat the Cincinnati Reds by a score of 8-5 despite Trevor Bauer not having his best stuff.
This will not be a game that Trevor Bauer looks back upon fondly. The Indians starter allowed five runs on seven hits in 6.2 innings. The only saving grace was that Bauer managed to strike out seven batters. Even with the rough start Trevor Bauer came away with his second win of the spring.
Trevor Bauer allowed two solo home runs in the first inning to Jesse Winker and Jose Iglesias. These two doing damage would become a theme throughout the game. Iglesias would homer again in the sixth inning. Winker also homered for the second time, this one being of the two-run variety bringing Cincinnati’s run total to five.
After finding themselves down 2-0 early, the Indians rallied over the course of several innings to take the lead. A Jake Bauers RBI single brought home Leonys Martin for Cleveland’s first run. Carlos Santana would single in the third and Bauers would score. Mark Mathias would groundout to shortstop allowing Kevin Plawecki to find his way home. Plawecki would triple in the fifth to extend the Indians lead to three runs. Greg Allen would follow Plawecki and drive him in with an RBI double. The final runs of the game came courtesy of Plawecki two-run blast in the eighth inning.
The final 2.1 innings of the game belonged to the Indians bullpen and they did not disappoint. The group only allowed one hit and struck out two batters to finish off the game.
While Trevor Bauer did not have the best start, he was able to go fairly deep into the game and pitch long enough to earn the win after Cleveland took the lead. The Indians bullpen persevered the victory over the final couple of frames.
