RF Andrew Lambo (photo)ot one of the runs back in the bottom of the 4th. He blasted the first pitch he saw on a long fly. It landed in a glove, with a very nice catch, but luckily for the Indians, the glove belonged to a small fan on the grass berm behind the right field wall. (Great catch!)
Another error in the top of the 5th gave the Tides another unearned run. With Wilson still on the mound, DH Ryan Adams doubled off the top of the left field scoreboard. Wilson got Snyder to fly out to short left field. Bell grounded to third, where Harrison made a nice pick up, but his throw to first base was high, and 1B Matt Hague had to leap to make the catch, pulling him off the bag. The error was charged to Harrison. LF Nolan Reimold grounded to deep short, and Ciriaco was able to make the force out at second base, but Adams scored from third base. Tides up, 5-2.
D’Arnaud doubled down the left field line in the bottom of the 5th, but couldn’t get around to score. Wilson also allowed a single in the top of the 6th. Jaramillo threw that runner out trying to steal second base.
Photo: everyone watches a pop foul
The game turned again in the bottom of the 6th, when the first 6 Tribe batters reached base safely. Hague led off with a liner into center field, which bounced away from CF Angle. Lambo worked a walk. Then Harrison ripped his
third hit of the night on a line into right field, and he hit it so hard that the Tides had an easy time getting the ball back to the infield, so Hague had to hold at third. Jaramillo stepped to the plate with the bases loaded. He cleared them with a huge blast over the left field wall and onto the grass berm, for a grand slam. That gave the Indians a 6-5 lead, which they would not give up.
Ciriaco followed the grand slam with a line drive down to the left field corner for a double, and Hernandez was hit on the left leg by a pitch. At that point, the two runners taught the Tides a lesson in Paying Attention. Wimberly put down the perfect sacrifice bunt just in front of the plate. C Tatum scrambled out from behind the plate to field the ball, and made the throw to first to get the out on Wimberly. The Tides’ 3B Blake Davis (who took over for Bell) and 1B Snyder also dashed forward, since Wimberly had made it clear to everyone in the stadium that he was about to bunt. That meant that everyone was looking at first base, and none of the Tides were anywhere near home plate. So, Ciriaco took off from third, and by the time the Tides figured out what was happening, Ciriaco was crossing the plate with an insurance run. Hernandez advanced to third, which was also not being covered. Next, D’Arnaud struck out, but strike three was a ball in the dirt, and it got away from Tatum. D’Arnaud ran to first, and Tatum scrambled after the ball. The throw to first was in plenty of time to get d’Arnaud, but once again, Tatum was away from the plate, and he and everyone else was busy looking at first base. Hernandez raced for the plate, and easily slid across to score, once again before the Tides knew what was going on.
The Indians were quiet over their last two at-bats, except for Josh Harrison, who doubled in the 7th for his 4th hit of the game.
Cesar Valdez took over for Wilson to pitch the top of the 7th. He gave up two hits, but also got two strikeouts. Danny Moskos pitched the final two innings, and earned his first Save of the season. Moskos gave up a single in the 8th, but got two grounder force outs to end the inning. He retired the side in order in the 9th. Wilson finished his night with 6 innings of work, with 5 unearned runs on 5 hits and 3 walks, plus 4 strikeouts. He threw 92 pitches, with 53 strikes.
Indians’ Hitting Gem of the Game: What could be better than a grand slam? This was the first grand slam of Jaramillo’s career. “I was just trying to calm myself down, and get a good pitch to hit”, Jaramillo said after the game. (Photo)
Indians’ Defensive Gem of the Game: In the 2nd inning, Josh Bell rapped a grounder that looked like it was heading through the hole and into left field. SS Pedro Ciriaco was clearly not going to get there, but 3B Josh Harrison went to his left and made a diving stop. Then he hopped up and made a solid throw to first base to get the out on a surprised Bell, who was sure he’d hit a single.
NOTES:
Harrison went 4-for-4 in the game, raising his average to .364.
Alex Presley is hitting .329.
Everyone in the lineup had at least one hit tonight, except for Corey Wimberly, who put down two sacrifice bunts and even picked up an RBI on the bunt in the 6th.
Another sequence that ended with a good throw: In the 3rd, Tatum grounded to 2B Chase d’Arnaud. He went to make the play, but his spikes caught in the dirt and he went down — but he threw from a seated position to get the out on Tatum. 
Go Tribe!
(photos by Nancy)
