CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – For the first time since 2019, the drink rails at ‘The Corner’ were filled.
The concourses were packed and lines at the concession stands long. ‘Jose, Jose, Jose’ chants for Jose Ramirez and the roar of the crowd filled the air all night.
Just under 23,000 tickets were sold for Friday night’s series opener against the Mariners, which the Indians dubbed Opening Day 2.0 and the paying customers witnessed Aaron Civale strike out a career-high 11 batters, Amed Rosario collect four hits and Bobby Bradley homer and drive in three as the Indians steamrolled Seattle, 7-0 at Progressive Field.
“I’m kind of under the weather the last few days,” Civale said. “Some allergies going on, but I’ve thrown some of my best games when I haven’t been feeling my best, physically. I think the focus tonight was probably the best I’ve had in a long time.”
Civale and the offense, which pounded out 14 hits, kept the ballpark buzzing all night.
“The energy was awesome, so that’s something that I felt on the mound several times,” Civale said. “There were several instances on the mound where I just kind of used that as extra adrenaline and that’s something that’s been missing from this game the past few years.
“It’s really nice to have that back. Just have awesome fans here. That’s what we play for.”
After allowing his only hit, hitting and walking a batter in the first inning, Civale went on to retire 22 consecutive hitters on his way to his ninth win of the season.
“That was really fun to watch,” manager Terry Francona said of Civale's performance.
Civale, who threw 101 pitches and 71 of those for strikes, improved to 15-0 when the Indians scored at least three runs for him.
It was the first time he allowed just one hit in an outing.
“[When] You’re locked in, you’re seeing everything,” Civale said. “The misses are less and you’re confident with what you’re doing. Felt pretty good tonight.”
The Indians jumped on Mariners starter Justin Dunn, who suffered his third loss and lasted just three innings, in the first as the first five hitters reached base and the first three ended up scoring to give Cleveland a 3-0 advantage after 1.
Eddie Rosario drove home the first run with an RBI single. Bradly pushed Amed Rosario across by walking with the bases loaded and Josh Naylor’s RBI single scored Jose Ramirez, but Rosario was thrown out at home trying to score by Mariners center fielder Dillon Thomas.
Jose Ramirez, who had three hits and reached base all five times, drove home his 36th run of the season in the second inning with an RBI single to right, scoring Bradley Zimmer, who beat Dunn to the bag for an infield single thanks to a replay review, for a 4-0.
Bradley led the third off with his second homer of the season, a bullet over the right center field wall to make it 5-0.
“He’s done a very good job. He’s swinging at strikes,” Francona said. “He’s a big strong kid and when he gets the barrel to it, he’s going to hit some home runs.”
Cleveland added 2 more in the sixth to blow it open at 7-0 thanks to RBI singles from Bradley and Harold Ramirez.
“All those starry-eyed moments are gone,” Bradley, who is 6 for 13 with six RBIs in six games since being called up, said. “I see myself as one of these big leaguers now. It’s not like, ‘Oh my God, this is my first time’ anymore. It’s just, ‘Now it’s time to put my head down and work.’”
Blake Parker pitched a scoreless ninth, allowing one hit, for Cleveland to polish off their 33rd victory of the season.