CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – There’s a long, rich history of power hitters in Cleveland.
Names like Thome, Belle and Manny Ramirez headlined an offense in the 1990’s that made then-Jacob’s Field look like a wiffle ball park, at times.
Even recent lineups that included Edwin Encarnacion, Mike Napoli, Franciso Lindor and Jose Ramirez boasted their share of pop.
But Monday night the 2021 version managed to do something those feared lineups couldn’t: belt a home run in 20-straight games, a franchise record.
The accomplishment came in the fourth inning of the Indians 5-2 loss to the Twins at Progressive Field when Franmil Reyes belted his third homer in as many games for the Indians’ only offensive output of the night.
“I thought they kept us off balance a little bit. They had a little different repertoire when you talk about the kid, (Bailey) Ober and then (Michael) Pineda following him,” said interim manager DeMarlo Hale. “They just really kept us off balance. I thought (we had) some good swings.”
Minnesota set the tone on the first pitch of the game. Byron Buxton singled on a hard-hit ball in between shortstop Amed Rosario and third baseman Jose Ramirez.
Jorge Polanco followed with a double to left to put runners in scoring position before Rob Refsnyder singled to right to give the Twins an early 2-0 lead.
“First pitch of the game was a sinker, which was a pitch they hadn’t seen all year,” said Indians’ starter Logan Allen. “I threw a really good one to start the game, exactly what we wanted a ground ball. Buxton is a phenomenal player. He put it where they weren’t.”
Allen was charged with five runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings but rebounded after allowing three-straight hits on his first five pitches to start the game. The 24-year-old right hander has had his struggles against the Twins, allowing six runs in 1 1/3 innings back on April 28th.
“At the beginning of this year, after how the first inning went it probably would’ve been an early exit for me,” Allen said. “I think I’ve done a much better job of controlling the things that I can control and just competing and really understanding that my stuff plays, regardless of the score tonight.”
Jorge Polanco caused most of the problems for Allen and the rest of the Indians pitchers, belting a home run and three doubles. It was Polanco’s first-career game with three doubles.
“He (Allen) kept us close enough where we had our chances, we had some men on base. We had some things, maybe one swing of that bat could’ve changed the outcome,” Hale said. “I’m very happy with him and his effort, sticking around that long.”
Reyes’ bomb was his 27th of the season and is even more impressive when you consider he missed six weeks with an oblique strain. The Indians had a chance to cut into a 4-2 deficit in the fifth inning, with two runners on and Jose Ramirez at the plate. Michael Pineda forced Ramirez a fly-out to end the inning.