Dateline: Running Cedar
On a hot, humid Wednesday afternoon, the tribe continued their home stand against the lead leaguing White Sox. Indians fans were hopeful as the team was riding a three game winning streak. Charles started on the mound and looked good. He gave up a couple of weak hits, but struck out two and induced a ground out to second where Nikhil made a nice play as he flipped to first for out three. Two runs had scored on some wild pitches and the Indians went down quietly so after one it was 2-0 White Sox.
In the second, Charles got the first batter to pop out to Nikhil at second and struck out the next two. In the bottom of the second, Bryon hit a shot to the right of first where the first baseman made a great play to get him. Chad blasted a long fly to right and the right fielder leaped and snagged the ball — robbing Chad a huge extra base hit. Christian grounded out hard to first for out three. Three pitches, three hard hit balls, and sadly for Indians fans, three outs. After two it was still 2-0 Sox.
In the third Brendan came on and threw heat. A couple of weak singles resulted in two runs, but after that Brendan settled down and struck out two batters to end the inning. The Indians came roaring back with a long double by Nicholas and a huge blast to deep center by Pedro for a clean triple to score Nicholas. Brendan came through with an RBI single. Brendan stole second and scored on a big RBI single by Christian T. When the dust had cleared it was 4-3 Sox.
In the fourth, Brendan was dominant with three quick outs on a grounder back to the mound, a strike out and a groundout to first. Indians went down quietly in the bottom of the fourth so after four it was still 4-3 Sox.
Bryan came on in the fifth and gave up two quick singles and then ran into some control problems and walked the next batter. A single scored two runs and two more walks scored two more. The Indians came right back with a single by Christian V who sole second a walk to Pedro and a walk to Jesus. Brendan came through with a huge single to score Christian and Pedro but Brendan was caught in a rundown between first and second for our two. Charles singled to score Jesus. After five it was 8-6 Sox.
Nikhil came on in the sixth and gave up a single and a walk. The next batter flew out to left and a groundout to first scored the run. Nikhil then calmly struck out the next batter for out three. Down only three runs, the Indians came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth. A long leadoff double by Connor got things started but that was the end of the threat and the game ended White Sox 9 Indians 6.
Coach Goldstein said, “We played a great game and we certainly hit well enough to win the game — we had one inning with three hard hit balls and the White Sox made a few great defensive plays.” Coach Grossman was available for a brief phone interview and said, “Well we’ve played the White Sox in three close games — its a shame we won’t get a chance to play them again. We’ll be ready for the Pirates on Saturday.”
The Indians go on the road against the undefeated Pirates on Saturday at 3:30. It should be a thriller
