Overcast outlook turns sunny as Tribe bats wake up in time to squash Yankees
By: Sean Fitzgerald
Tags: Clint Frazier, Franmil Reyes, Cleveland Indians, MLB, New York Yankees

Overcast outlook turns sunny as Tribe bats wake up in time to squash Yankees Sean Fitzgerald Apr 25·4 min read

An overcast and gloomy Sunday gave way to a gorgeous late-April afternoon for the front 8,766 fans making the trek to the ballpark.

An overcast and gloomy Sunday gave way to a gorgeous late-April afternoon for the front 8,766 fans making the trek to the ballpark.

The Indians offense came to play and smacked the Yankees 7–3 in the final game of a four game set from Progressive Field.

Triston McKenzie drew the start for Cleveland, allowing a one-out single before walking Rougned Odor and Gleyber Torres to load the bases with two down.

A visit to the mound settled the young righty down and he struck out Gio Urshela, but needed 29 total pitches to escape the jam.

Jameson Taillon took to the bump for New York and cruised by easily out of the gate, sending Cleveland down in order with only nine pitches.

Cleveland finally picked up it’s first hit in the second inning with a Franmil Reyes bloop-single to center, landing in front of Brett Gardner. Reyes came away with his first career stolen base before Jordan Luplow’s pop-up ended the bottom frame.

Right before disaster: Gio Urshela is about to hit a two-run jack in the fourth inning.

McKenzie got through the next two innings just fine before pain set in during the fourth frame. A leadoff single in the fourth to Torres was followed by Gio Urshela’s third long ball of the year, with Mike Ford also hitting a solo blast for a 3–0 lead.

The Tribe bats finally woke from their slumber in the bottom half of that fourth inning, with three straight singles by Cesar Hernandez, Jose Ramirez and Eddie Rosario plating Hernandez with nobody out, bringing Reyes to the dish.

With runners on the corners and a 1–2 count, Reyes mashed a 338-foot opposite field shot to souvenir city, giving the Indians their first lead of the game and Cleveland’s first home run of the series. It was Reyes’ first dinger since April 10.

McKenzie struggled over the course of four innings with three runs on four hits, both runs off of homers. He added four walks and five punch outs while throwing 87 pitches, 46 going for strikes. McKenzie didn’t factor into the decision.

Taillon also ended his day somewhat early, pitching four innings and giving up four runs on five hits, while striking out six with the loss. He didn’t issue a walk over 82 pitches, 58 of them strikes.

Nick Nelson came on for New York as the first guy out of the visitors bullpen and got torched. Jose Ramirez hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth to plate Austin Hedges.

Franmil Reyes added to a weekend of firsts by getting his second career triple off the top of the left-center field fence with Luplow delivering an RBI double and Hedges getting an RBI single to score Luplow, putting the Tribe up 7–3 at the end of the sixth.

James Karinchak came on to pitch the eighth, striking out three of four outside of plunking Gary Sanchez and sending the crowd into a frenzy. Emmanuel Clase sent everyone home happy by locking down the ninth for the first victory since last Sunday against the Reds.

— — — Tidbits — — —

4 is the magic number

The Indians fell to 1–10 on the season when scoring four or fewer runs yesterday. With four or more runs scored, today included, they are 8–1 and outscoring their opponents 55–27. Conversely, the team has been outscored 49–21 with three or fewer plated runs.

In the shortened 2020 campaign, the Tribe went 8–19 when driving in three or fewer runs (-54 run differential) and 27–6 when scoring four or more (+93 run differential).

Mr. Wheels

Via ESPN’s Sarah Lang, Franmil Reyes went 314 games without having a stolen base to start his career. That was the fourth-longest such streak among active players. Jesús Aguilar went 518 games, Omar Navarez (410), and Colin Moran (382).

So close!

Reyes finished a double short of the cycle. He would have been the first to accomplish the feat since Jake Bauers in 2019 against the Detroit Tigers.

Just WOW!!!

Jordan Luplow drove the ball deep to left in the eighth inning that would have been a certain double. Clint Frazier made an absolutely great play to prevent it with a diving grab that shocked the stadium and the entire press box. Just WOW!!!