CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) - Tuesday night’s game at Progressive Field saw the Cleveland Indians hit double digits at the plate and on the mound.
The Tribe recorded 10 hits and launched a five-run 4th inning, and the pitching staff recorded 14 strikeouts to stamp a 7-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles in the second of Cleveland’s four-game homestand.
The scoring began in the latter half of the opening frame, when the Indians took a 1-0 lead from Bobby Bradley’s RBI single, which scored Cesar Hernandez. The previous batter, Eddie Rosario, had grounded into what would have been an inning-ender, but O’s second baseman Stevie Wilkerson’s first of two errors for the game kept the inning alive. The Orioles did respond, however, with a run in the top of the second, thanks to Maikel Franco’s ribby double to left-center off Cleveland starter Cal Quantrill (4.0 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 4 strikeouts).
When asked about his mindset in trying to get past the earned run, Quantrill answered after the game: "[Aaron] Civale and I have talked a couple times about finding a way to break games down into small chunks, not allowing yourself to think to much about the big picture - not even about limiting the damage, or about what you're going do the next inning or the next pitch, but really breaking it down into small, manageable chunks. For me, it was just, 'You know? Whatever.' It's a couple hits, couple bad pitches, but it's a new hitter, it's a new count, I'm going to get after this guy, and we'll worry about it the next guy when he comes up."
The Indians got things going in the bottom of the fourth when Josh Naylor led off with a double to center off Orioles starter Matt Harvey. One batter later, Ernie Clement - in just his third at-bat in the bigs - singled to center and advanced all the way to third when center fielder Cedric Mullins’ throw to home went awry, giving the Tribe a 2-1 lead.
Clement, who was drafted out of the University of Virginia by the Indians in the 2017 MLB Draft, got to have his parents, sister, grandmother, aunt, and uncle (according to Clement) at the ballpark for his first professional hit - along with cheers of "Ernie! Ernie!" echoing through the bleachers for each of his at-bats.
"I'm glad I could help the team win. That was the main focus," said Clement postgame. "If it happened to be a base hit, that's great but...any way to get it done."
In that fourth inning, Bradley Zimmer promptly singled Clement home three pitches later, and after Cesar Hernandez walked, Amed Rosario roped a 2-run hit that put the Tribe up 4-1.
Harvey (3.1 IP, 6 hits, 6 runs (5 earned), 2 walks, 2 strikeouts) was relieved by O's righty Cole Sulser, who recorded an out before allowing a 2-run double to the other Rosario - Eddie - to make it 6-1 Cleveland.
The Orioles did manage a run in the top of the fifth via a Trey Mancini RBI double off Tribe reliever Blake Parker 6-2. Baltimore also pressured 6th-inning reliever Phil Maton with back-to-back singles, although Maton struck out the next two batters for his three strikeouts of that frame. On the mound, former Indians right-hander Adam Plutko cleaned up against many of his old teammates, mostly silencing the Tribe lineup in the fifth and sixth innings.
However, in the bottom of the seventh, Bobby Bradley launched a high-riser off Plutko that just went over the right-field wall - his third of 2021. Since his call-up earlier this month, Bradley has also driven in 10 runs and posted a 1.361 OPS.
"I was praying, it felt good," Bradley laughed after the game. "I watched it for a second, so I started praying as I was going down the first base line when I saw [Orioles right fielder Austin Hays] going back towards the wall, it kind of scared me a little bit."
Bradley also added the following when asked if he felt a release from pressure building up to his first home run back in his 2019 major league stint, and if it was gone now: "I was putting all the pressure on myself, especially in '19. First time being up, this big stadium, things like that...and I put way too much pressure on myself to try and to be too perfect and perform, but right now we're just letting loose and having fun."
The Indians bullpen mostly made small work of the final few innings, as Nick Wittgren and James Karichak (the latter of whom recorded the win for the Tribe) each threw an inning of three strikeouts, and Emmanuel Clase closed the door on Baltimore 1-2-3 in the ninth.
The Indians (36-28) will face off with Baltimore (22-44) again Wednesday night, with Aaron Civale (9-2, 3.17 ERA) expected to start against O’s lefty Keegan Akin (0-1, 4.13 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 7:10p.m.