CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Wednesday afternoon Jose Ramirez provided the power and Friday night it was Franmil Reyes’ turn.
Reyes homered twice and Zach Plesac pitched seven brilliant shutout innings as the Indians got back to .500 on the young season with a 4-1 win Friday night at Progressive Field.
“That’s two games in a row where we had one guy kind of carry our offense but we’ll take it because we pitched pretty well,” Indians manager Terry Francona said.
Plesac, who allowed just three hits – all singles, retired 10 straight Tigers between knocks from Niko Goodman to lead off the third and Will Castro with two out in the sixth.
He struck out six.
“He filled up the strike zone the entire night,” Francona said. “The fastball, I don’t know what it said on the gun, but it had a lot of life to it.”
Reyes sent a missile to the bleachers in left with a man aboard in the first inning and launched a 446-foot rocket over two walls in center into Heritage Park for his ninth-career multi-homer game of his career.
It was all the support Plesac needed.
“It’s a lot more fun when your scoring runs and get the lead,” Plesac said. “Kudos to our guys in the lineup who have been swinging hard.”
Derek Holland went 2 2/3 innings and allowed three runs on four hits with three strikeouts in a surprise start for the Tigers. Julio Teheran was originally sated to go but he was scratched as a precaution after experiencing tightness in his right triceps while warming prior to the game in the bullpen.
Eddie Rosario’s hustle on a potential double play ball to second allowed Amed Rosario, who led off with a single, to score from third and Reyes to come to the plate to sock his second homer of the season, giving the Indians all they'd need, a 3-0 lead.
Holland was pulled as Reyes came to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the third inning in favor of right hander Buck Farmer, who kept the ball in the yard and allowed just a single to Cleveland’s designated hitter.
“When those hits start dropping, we're going to be good,” Reyes said. “Hopefully we get more games like this where we take the lead earlier.”
With one out in the bottom of the sixth Reyes connected again giving the Indians a 4-0 advantage with his third homer of the young season.
Bryan Shaw relieved Plesac in the eighth and was promptly greeted by catcher Wilson Ramos, who took his offering for a 443-foot ride over the center field wall to get the Tigers on the board, but trailing 4-1.
Shaw walked rookie left fielder Akil Baddoo before retiring the next three hitters, including back-to-back strikeouts.
Emmanuel Clase hit 100 on the radar gun with regularity to blow away the Tigers in the ninth for his first save of the season that saw him record a pair of punch-outs.
