CLEVELAND, Ohio – Jordan Luplow is making his case.
The Indians outfielder is making a good assertion to be a fixture in the Indians lineup every day.
But if a recent surge at the plate against right-handed pitching served as his opening statements for increased playing time, Monday night served as his closing argument.
Luplow belted a 1-1 offering from Alex Colome 399 feet into the left-field bleachers for a two-run home run to give the Indians a 5-3 walk-off win over the Twins
“It definitely feels good, and you get to admire it for a little bit,” Luplow said of his 399-foot shot into the left-field bleachers.
The win in extras was the first of the walk-off variety this season for the Tribe, and could provide a much-needed jolt to not just the offense, but the club as a whole.
“It’s been a struggle not getting some of the results that we deserve,” Luplow said. “Something like that and what Josey (Jose Ramirez) did tonight and (Josh) Naylor, if we keep that rolling it’s going to be good. It’s definitely a fire starter for sure.”
The Indians knew they had a prime chance to make up for a forgettable series against the Yankees. Minnesota was 2-11 in their last 13 games. Their offense was averaging three runs per game and hitting just .218 during that span.
But early on, the Tribe’s bats sputtered until they finally broke through in the sixth inning.
Ceasar Hernandez walked, Eddie Rosario doubled to left field and Frannil Reyes scored Rosario on a broken bat single to right field to erase an early deficit and tie the game 2-2.
“A lot of good things happen tonight, or we don’t win the game I’m going all the way back to Plesac keeping us in the game,” Francona said. “Because their guy (Jose Berrios) is good, but because Zach (Plesac) kept them in check, it made the runs that we scored important.
Plesac threw 7 2/3 innings allowing five hits, three earned runs while striking out four. This biggest blemish was perhaps his first, where he surrendered a second inning home run to Brent Rooker to give the Twins an early 1-0 lead. Rooker was hitting just .095 when he took Plesac deep.
But the Indians righty has been tinkering with his delivery recently and has changed his position on the mound slightly that has led to an increase in velocity.
“Carl (Willis) had mentioned they had moved him over on the rubber a little bit just to get him against that front leg a bit more,” Francona said. “You could see he had a couple extra ticks on his fastball.”
Plesac left the game with the Tribe trailing 3-2 in the eighth inning, but Jose Ramirez answered in the bottom half of the inning by launching a solo home run into the right field seats that just snuck inside the foul pole.
“16 pitches was the most he threw in an inning and that was his last inning,” Francona said.
Ramirez’s fifth long ball of the set the table for Luplow’s heroics in extra innings, his second-career walk-off home run.
“He had taken such a good swing on the pitch before,” Francona said. “He’s making a case that ne needs to play more. And I don’t want to be the one to get in the way of that.”