Indians painting imposing picture as rotation starts to shine
The Cleveland Indians made it eight wins in nine MLB games with a 5-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday.
Less than a month ago, the Indians looked like a team that might not even make it into the postseason.
Now, Cleveland (68-53) are starting to look more like the team that made it to the World Series last season.
Trevor Bauer (12-8) tossed 6.1 scoreless innings with four strikeouts and just two walks. He has now given up three or less earned runs in eight of his last nine full starts.
Guys like Danny Salazar, Carlos Carrasco and ace Corey Kluber have all starred recently. The old adage of "pitching wins in the postseason" bodes well for the Indians. While other American League teams like the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox rely heavily on their lineups, Cleveland can overpower teams with a dominant rotation and bullpen.
The recent addition of outfielder Jay Bruce made the Indians' lineup scarier, too. The former New York Mets star has three home runs in his last three games, including a two-homer, five-RBI game on Friday.
SATURDAY'S RESULTS
Toronto Blue Jays 3-4 Chicago Cubs
Los Angeles Dodgers 3-0 Detroit Tigers
St Louis Cardinals 4-6 Pittsburgh Pirates
Seattle Mariners 7-6 Tampa Bay Rays
Los Angeles Angels 5-1 Baltimore Orioles
Arizona Diamondbacks 0-5 Minnesota Twins
Cincinnati Reds 11-8 Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins 1-8 New York Mets
New York Yankees 4-3 Boston Red Sox
Oakland Athletics 0-3 Houston Astros
Cleveland Indians 5-0 Kansas City Royals
Chicago White Sox 7-17 Texas Rangers
Milwaukee Brewers 6-3 Colorado Rockies
Washington Nationals 1-3 San Diego Padres
Philadelphia Phillies 12-9 San Francisco Giants
MARVELLOUS MARTE
Pirates outfielder Starling Marte had been pretty quiet since returning from his 80-game PED suspension last month, but he broke out with three hits, a home run, two RBIs and two stolen bases in a 6-4 win over the Cardinals. Marte is now batting .271 this season.
AWFUL ODORIZZI
Rays starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi was torched for seven earned runs off eight hits in a 7-6 loss to the Mariners. Odorizzi walked five and served up two home runs while falling to 6-7 with 4.74 ERA this season.
TROUT GOES DEEP TWICE
Angels center fielder Mike Trout hit a pair of home runs on Saturday, including a third-inning blast to left-center in a 5-1 win over the Orioles.
.@MikeTrout makes it look so easy. #Crushed pic.twitter.com/f7mzHwoJII
— MLB (@MLB) August 19, 2017
Another at-bat, another homer.@MikeTrout – still doing @MikeTrout things. https://t.co/XoxI4ayhlY pic.twitter.com/Hqf21jKoR6
— MLB (@MLB) August 20, 2017
Giants center fielder Denard Span led off Saturday's game against the Phillies with an inside-the-park home run.
It gets the people going!@thisisdspan turns the jets on for an inside-the-park homer! https://t.co/c8ZqEPD62t pic.twitter.com/KCBTkRYgNt
— MLB (@MLB) August 20, 2017
DODGERS AT TIGERS
These two teams are headed in vastly different directions, but Detroit (53-69) will send Justin Verlander (8-8, 4.11 ERA) to the mound to face off against Kenta Maeda (11-4, 3.76 ERA), giving them some semblance of a chance. The Dodgers (87-34) have won six straight games and already look ready for the postseason.