A night after exploding for 19 runs offensively, the Cleveland Indians’ bats cooled down Tuesday night. Only slightly though. The Tribe looked like they might have a repeat performance early in the evening, as they jumped out to a three-run lead in the top of the first thanks to a bases-clearing double by slugger Travis Hafner.
Carlos Carrasco (2-2) was unspectacular but plenty good in victory, allowing two earned runs on five hits and two walks in five and one third innings of work for the Tribe. Rafael Perez, Joe Smith, Tony Sipp and Chris Perez allowed just one more Royals run over the next three and two thirds innings. All told, the upstart Indians stayed hot and took game two of the teams’ mini two-game series, 7-3.
Five different Indians drove in a run, with the biggest hit of the night, Hafner’s three-run double, coming in the opening frame of the contest. Hafner now has six ribbis in his last two outing. Asdrubal Cabrera continues to swing the bat well. The short stop drove in a run for the fourth consecutive game thanks to his solo-shot in the seventh , his seventh homerun of the season. Michael Brantley saw his HR streak snapped at two games, but he did manage to drive in his ninth run in the last five games with a sacrifice fly in the 4th.
It’s fun to be an Indians fan right now is it not?
Cleveland travels tomorrow night to take on the Chicago White Sox in a quick two-game series before interleague play begins this Friday.