Roster Update: In "oops we made a big mistake" news, the Indians sent DFA'd David Huff to make room for Scott Barnes as Huff has struggled in his last two outings and Rich Hill is not fit to be a sole left hander out of the pen. If you don't remember, normal left handed match-up man, Nick Hagadone was sent back to AAA on May 17th so that Huff wouldn't have to be exposed to waivers, something that is happening anyway. Hagadone isn't eligible to come back to Cleveland for another four days so Barnes will be his substitute for the time being. Of course if the Indians had just admitted that nobody in baseball would ever pick Huff (or Lou Marson when it comes up in a week) off waivers, this whole minor league stint could have been avoided.

Player of the Game

Yan Gomes is on a current team high 9 game positive POG score streak, second only to Chris Perez's 12 game streak that ended on May 18th.

Drew Stubbs landed hit first POG tonight with his outstanding offensive performanace. Stubbs doubled twice and tripled. With those hits came 3 RBI and a run scored.

Feathers Up

Carlos Santana tried a novel approach at breaking his current slump by bunting against the shift and was safe at first. The play was important as Santana scored the first Indians run after Drew Stubbs hit a bloop double down the right field line. The third baseline is always an option for pull hitters like Santana and he has been working during batting practice to take advantage as this huge opening in the field.

Tribe bats came out swinging strong tonight. Each player in the starting line up had at least one hit, with Michael Bourn, Mark Reynolds, and Drew Stubbs leading the way with 3 each. Reynolds and  Stubbs each had 3 RBI and Carlos Santana scored 3 runs.The only starter who did not score a run was Jason Kipnis. Needless to say, everybody was involved in tonight's 12-run effort.

Despite having a 9-run lead, Scott Barnes still recorded a save. He did so by pitching 3 scoreless innings and striking out 4.

Feathers Down

Chris Perez has not recorded a save in 12 games, though he did blow 2 in that time frame. Maybe he should have pitched the final 3 innings tonight.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 12 - Boston Red Sox 3

Player of the Game

Michael Brantley provided most of the offense for the Tribe tonight and for that he wins the Player of the Game. Brantley had three separate RBI singles providing almost half of the Indians scoring.

Feathers Up

The Indians two out magic struck again tonight in the first inning. After the first two Indians hitters struck out looking (on balls that were far off the plate), the Indians strung together three straight hits off a Justin Verlander who has been struggling of late. A double by Asdrubal Cabrera set up the score and Michael Brantley knocked him in.

The Indians added some thunder to their bats prior to the rain delay in the bottom of the 5th inning. Asdrubal Cabrera started the inning with a double (his 2nd of the game), then Michael Brantley singled in Mike Aviles (who ran for Cabrera). Carlos Santana topped it all off with a 2-run home run. This still left the Indians down by 4 going into the hour delay.

Lou who? Yan Gomes is proving that he should permanently be a part of the big league squad. Tonight, Gomes hit his 5th home run in just his 18th game of the season. He is currently tied for 5th on the team in home runs.

Milestone Update: Carlos Santana hit a benchmark with his 250th career walk. This is impressive as there are less than 60 Indians ever to walk 250 times and Santana did so in just 383 games, less than any player in Indians history that had more than 200 walks in their career. He ranks behind only Jim Thome with .65 walks per game so far in his career.

Feathers Down

The Ubaldo Jimenez of old (or a month ago) made a brief appearance tonight in the first inning, and again in the 3rd. He had the same issue as in the past when he went to the stretch after the first hitter and subsequently allowed another two hits before Victor Martinez hit a hard line drive that went for a sacrifice fly, scoring the second Tigers run. He was able to strike out the next hitter and settle down after, retiring the next seven hitters, until the 3rd inning, when he gave up a couple doubles and walks, resulting in 4 more runs for the Tigers.

After the 2nd rain delay, the Tigers caught a huge break when a ball deflected off the glove of Michael Bourn and bounced about 3 feet up to go over the fence for a Miguel Cabrera home run in the 8th inning.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 7 - Detroit Tigers 11

Roster Update: The Indians added a new player to the team today as Nick Swisher's wife had their first child. Relative to baseball, this means that Swisher will be on the paternity list for as long as three days while they get things situated at home. Cord Phelps has been recalled in his place for the second time this year. Phelps went 0-8 in an earlier stint while replacing the injured Jason Kipnis. He will likely be an emergency measure only.

Player of the Game

Cody Allen earned his first player of the game award of the season with a fantastic relief outing. Allen pitched 1.2 innings, striking out 4 Detroit batters in a row.

Feathers Up

Batting Michael Brantley fourth was an odd decision going into the game (instead of dropping either Brantley or Asdrubal Cabrera down in the lineup), but it worked out well in the first. Brantley knocked in the Indians first run on a line drive sacrifice fly to deep right field.

The rather large man, Prince Fielder, struck out 4 times tonight. Corey Kluber and Cody Allen combined in K-ing the big guy.

Feathers Down

Corey Kluber proved phenominal the first 5 innings, but fell apart quickly in the 6th. He gave up the lead by allowing a home run, a double, and another home run. Kluber pitched into the 7th inning, giving up 3 runs on 8 hits.

No miracle walk-off tonight. In fact, the Indians did not have a single baserunner after Carlos Santana walked in the first inning until Michael Bourn singled in the 9th. The Indians did not record their first strike out until the 5th inning, but managed to strike out a total of 7 times by the end of the game.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 1 - Motor City Kitties 5

Player of the Game

The third time is the charm as they say and today, Yan Gomes wins the Player of the Game for giving the Indians their third walk off win of the four game series. It was his second home run of the game that pushed him over the edge, giving him four RBI, two runs scored and single. Gomes also played well defensively, catching two out of three attempted base stealers. He did all this despite not playing every day. His fourth home run this year gives Gomes as many as Lou Marson has had in his entire Indians career (253 games).

Feathers Up

The Indians have played very well with two outs this year, but generally that means that players get on throughout the inning and someone gets a two out RBI before the inning ends within the next two batters. Today's second inning was something else entirely. Carlos Santana doubled with one out and Mark Reynolds flew out to make it two outs. After there were already two down, Michael Brantley walked and Ryan Raburn and Yan Gomes followed with back to back home runs, giving the Indians a 4-2 lead. To finish the inning, Michael Bourn was safe on a bunt attempt and Jason Kipnis singled to center before Asdrubal Cabrera ended the inning by striking out. The Indians batted around in the inning with six batters hitting with two outs.

Yesterday the Indians scored six runs against the AL's best pitcher (according to ERA), pushing him back to fourth in the league. Today, they scored four runs in the first two innings off the new number two pitcher, Hisashi Iwakuma, pushing his ERA over 2.00 for the first time since April 18th.

In a most perplexing turn of events, the unhittable Tom Wilhelmsen dropped an easy toss from first baseman Justin Smoak with two outs, allowing Kipnis to score the tying run on a play that should have ended the game. This was his first blown save of the year although he did continue his streak of not allowing a hit to a right handed batter by striking out Mark Reynolds to end the inning.

It was a back and forth event all day, but the Indians ended up on top with the Yan Gomes three run, walk-off home run being the deciding factor. No matter how you do it, it counts as a win and the Indians have now swept the Mariners and guaranteed a winning record on the home stand. It also means that no matter what happens against Detroit, they will end that series in first place.

It was announced today the Justin Masterson has won the Player of the Week for being just filthy in his last two starts. He is the second player this season to win the AL Player of the Week (Ryan Raburn was the other).

Feathers Down

Scott Kazmir was less than stellar for the second straight start. Kazmir struggled early on, throwing pitches that had far too much of the plate in pitcher's counts. He wasn't fooling anyone and the Mariners had no problem knocking him around to the tune of 7 hits in three innings. This was the second straight start that he allowed at least four runs in five or less innings. This comes right after a three game stretch where he threw 17 innings, allowing just five runs and striking out 21.

Despite the series win, this has been a generally bad series for the bullpen. The Indians have blown saves in three of four games with three different pitchers at fault. Today it was Vinnie Pestano in just his second game back from the DL. Chris Perez, who gave up the last blown save, gave up the go ahead run in today's game as well. Not to be outdone, Joe Smith gave up another solo home run in the tenth inning, giving Seattle home runs off of each of the Indians best three relievers.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 10 - Seattle Mariners 8

Player of the Game

Justin Masterson was dominant again today against the Mariners, striking out 11 in seven shut out innings. Masterson was never really in trouble and allowed just six base runners while recording the win. It is his third straight start that he has won the Player of the Game and his team leading sixth overall. His POG score of 9.79 is the best score since his last start (11.14) and the fifth best score of the year.

Feathers Up

In what has become a recurring theme with the Indians this year (as expected), speed kills. Michael Bourn lead off the bottom of the first with a line drive to the outfield and took advantage of a lazy play by right fielder Michael Morse to take second on what should have been a single. Michael Brantley then singled and scored Bourn from second easily and getting to second himself in the process. Brantley then used his above average speed to score from second on an error by first baseman Justin Smoak.

Another example of Bourn's speed came an inning later when he beat out an infield single hit straight to second. This play allowed the inning to continue, which was a very good thing for the Tribe. After Jason Kipnis singled, Michael Brantley hit a three run home run that rocked King Felix's world.

If you need another example of speed/very aggressive base running, just look to the fourth inning. After a Mike Aviles double, Drew Stubbs grounded out to the catcher. When Aviles saw the catcher leave the plate to field the ball, he ran home and scored from second on a ball that didn't travel more than 20 feet from the plate. The Indians knew they were facing one of the best pitchers in the league and a former Cy Young winner in Hernandez, so they were working hard to score every run they could. They were much more successful than they would have expected, scoring six runs in four innings playing small ball against a pitcher who came into the game with an ERA below 2.00. Most impressively, Felix Hernandez is the seventh (of eight) former Cy Young award winner that the Indians have beaten in 2013.

For the first time in years, Indians starting pitchers have started striking batters out with regularity. The two most adept at doing so, Justin Masterson and Ubaldo Jimenez, have now struck out 52 batters in their past six starts (8.67 K/G).

Feathers Down

The Indians kept David Huff on the roster instead of Nick Hagadone when Vinnie Pestano was recalled, but he has been completely unutilized out of the pen. Today would have been a perfect game to get him some innings, but instead, Rich Hill was used for the third time in the series. In the first two games against Seattle, Hill pitched two innings, blowing a save and allowing a home run and a double. In addition to Huff, who hasn't been used since May 13th, Joe Smith (who pitched today) and Matt Albers had been kept out of this series.

Carlos Santana may be working on a little bit of a slump. No one expected Santana to maintain an average near .400 as he did during the first month of the season, but as the rest of the team has heated up, he has cooled down. He is hitless in the past two games (going 0-8). This comes after a streak where he reached base at least once in 18 of his previous 19 games.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 6 - Seattle Mariners 0

Player of the Game

Similarly to last night, the hero wins the Player of the Game again as the Indians win in walk off fashion. Mark Reynolds knocked in three of the five Indians runs including a solo home run and the RBI fielder's choice to win the game.

Feathers Up

When he was signed, everyone knew that Mark Reynolds was a home run hitter, but where he has impressed most this year has been with runners in scoring position and two outs. He knocked in the Indians first run in the first inning in this situation. As he has been able to consistently do this year (9/18 with 2 outs and RISP) he hit the ball the other way to score Asdrubal Cabrera from second.

Of course, Reynolds still has some power as well, which he showcased with the bases empty in the fifth inning right into the teeth of a strong wind blowing in from left. I don't believe I've ever seen a player that had so much control over the baseball that he could put it exactly where he wants, whenever he wants to.

Zach McAllister was dominant (again) pitching into the eighth inning for just the second time this year. After a lead-off double to start the game, McAllister didn't give up another extra base hit until the eighth, when he gave up a double and a home run for the first Mariners runs of the game. In fact, no runner reached third until Justin Smoak did in the 8th after his double.

Indians fans had their rally caps on tonight (they were free to the first 10,000 fans), but they may have worked the wrong way. With the Tribe winning from the first inning on, they weren't the team that needed a rally. The Mariners completed their own rally with two runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth to tie the game. The magic worked twice however, as the Indians were able to come back again in the ninth to win it.

Milestone Update: With a double in the ninth (and four total bases in all) Asdrubal Cabrera now has 1,135 total bases as an Indian, placing him in 50th all time, tied with great Indians outfielder, Homer Summa. 

Feathers Down

With Nick Hagadone down in the minors (despite being deserving of a Major League spot in the bullpen), Terry Francona placed his trust in Rich Hill again. Prior to today, Hill had allowed inherited runners to score in two straight appearances. As soon as Hill came into the game, Eric Wedge went to his bench and brought in the right handed Jason Bay to pinch hit, eliminating the similar hand advantage. While he exscaped just allowing a single this time, Francona was playing with fire by not just bringing in Vinnie Pestano to pitch the eighth.

Chris Perez blew just his second save of the season, ending a streak of 12 straight scoreless outings. The Indians closer allowed two solo home runs back-to-back against Justin Smoak and Raul Ibanez.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 - Seattle Mariners 4

Roster Update: The Indians set-up man is back after spending his minimum of 11 games on the DL. To make room for Vinnie Pestano, the Indians have demoted Nick Hagadone for the third time this year. If this continues, Hagadone will be nicknamed the Herrmann of 2013.

Player of the Game

Tonight, the hero and the Player of the Game are one in the same as Jason Kipnis hit the home run that ended the game (even though a single would have done it). Kipnis also walked and singled earlier in the game as he reached base in four of his five at bats. This is his second POG in a row as he scored 5.76 points for tonight's effort.

Feathers Up

Seeing the Mariners play the Indians is always a good time. You always get to see a fair amount of players on one team that played (or managed) for the other. They also have been competitive with each other since at least the early 1990's, providing some of the greatest match-ups in recent history. Tonight was no different as the two teams took a tie game into the tenth inning before the Indians won in walk off fashion.

What Mark Reynolds couldn't do, Carlos Santana took care of himself. With Santana at third and one out in the second, Reynolds grounded out to short with the infield pulled in. Still at third, Santana then scored on a wild pitch by Brandon Maurer to give the Tribe a 2-0 lead.

Ubaldo Jimenez did a great job throwing strikes tonight and has now been effective in four straight starts. Most impressively, and an effect of throwing strikes, is that he has struck out at least eight batters in each of his last three starts. Jimenez only allowed 7 hits, six of which were singles, only one of which ended up creating a run (thanks to Rich Hill).

Michael Bourn has found the perfect place to hit the ball, just to the right side of the pitcher. Twice tonight he was safe on an infield hit that rolled slowly toward the second baseman. The second single was necessary to set up Jason Kipnis' two out, game winning, walk off, three run home run.

Eric Wedge deserves a lot of credit for this Indians win as he removed Carter Capps, who had no problem mowing down Tribe hitters for an inning and a third. He replaced Capps with Lucas Luetge (who now has an ERA of 10.50) and Luetge walked Drew Stubbs and gave up the Michael Bourn single before losing the game on the Kipnis home run.

Feathers Down

The only non-single that Ubaldo gave up tonight was a monstrous jack hit by Kendrys Morales. The ball landed in Kendrysville (I think the Indians are renaming the mezzanine after whoever hit the last home run there) a place that no Indians hitter has reached yet this year.

Rich Hill had a fairly easy chance at a hold in the sixth inning, facing the left handed Raul Ibanez with no outs and a runner on. Hill threw a 0-1 curve ball that stayed very high in the strike zone which Ibanez deposited far into the right field seats. The blast tied the game and stole what could have been a win away from Ubaldo Jimenez, who was great.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 6 - Seattle Mariners 3

Player of the Game

Jason Kipnis came to mash today, with three extra base hits including the finishing blow to the Phillies, a monster three run home run in the 8th inning. He scored after each of his hits, giving him three runs and three RBI on the day. He walked once as well, adding up to a POG score of 8.64. It is his team leading, fifth award on the season and his fourth in the Indians past 12 games.

Feathers Up

With Trevor Bauer getting things under control and Brett Myers returning from the DL within the next week, the pressure has been put on Corey Kluber to keep his place on the roster. After three pretty good starts, Kluber was destroyed last week against Detroit. He made amends this week, stating his case in a great game against Philadelphia. Kluber threw six strong innings, allowing just three runs, all knocked in by Jimmy Rollins. While he may not have guaranteed himself another start, hopefully he will at least be kept on the roster as the long reliever.

With two outs and two on in the top of the second, Kluber came up to bat and didn't embarrass himself. In fact, he had a great at bat, taking a couple of very close pitches after he had two strikes and ripping a foul ball down the left field line. He ended the at bat with a line drive out to the gap in left-center that was close to being a two run double. All-in-all, most people would still have preferred to see any player on the Indians bench batting in that position.

The Indians have long been proponents of making the opposing pitchers work and today it worked out perfectly. Even though they only scored three runs by the fifth inning, they already forced Cole Hamels to throw more than 90 pitches. Obviously tiring, Hamels left a ball up against Nick Swisher, who deposited it in the left field seats for a two run home run. It also forced the Phillies to go their bullpen early in the game despite the fact that Hamels pitched better than average, allowing just six hits in his five innings.

Feathers Down

Mark Reynolds was favoring his left shoulder/elbow during the at bat in which he eventually doubled against Cole Hamels. Once he reached second he still appeared to be in some discomfort. He was removed from the game in the 7th after striking out as part of a double switch with no further mention of the possible injury. Reynolds remains the Indians top hitter and the Indians cannot afford to lose his presence.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 10 - Philadelphia Phillies 4

Player of the Game

Michael Brantley wins tonight Player of the Game as the only Indian player to provide any positive effort. His second inning 2 RBI single was the only run scoring play for the Indians in the game and an 8th inning assist saved the Tribe another run. Most impressive about his RBI single is that it came with two outs on an 0-2 count. This is made even more impressive by the fact that the Indians only had four more hits during the entire game.

Feathers Up

Playing with the archaic National League rules, the Indians were lucky to score in the second inning before the opportunity was ruined by the pitcher batting. With runners at second and third, Michael Brantley hit a two run single to give the Indians the lead. Had Brantley gotten out, the Phillies would have walked Drew Stubbs to get to pitcher, Scott Kazmir. This essentially removes not just the DH from the lineup, but also the number eight hitter.

Feathers Down

In two steps forward and one step back news today, Scott Kazmir. The Indians fifth starter looked nothing like his last start when he had pin-point control in his dismantling of the Athletics. In that start he walked none and struck out 10, but this time around he walked two and hit two more while striking out just three. Less apparent, but just as important, his inability to throw strikes lead to many long at bats and a high pitch count early in the game.

Mark Reynolds had a night to forget tonight in Philadelphia. He couldn't have had more chances to increase his team lead in RBI than he did today, as he came up with a runner at third in each of his first three at bats and each time flew out to shallow right. For the night, Reynolds stranded five runners in scoring position. His first at bat came with runners at second and third with no outs, the second with the bases loaded and two outs and the third with runners at first and third with one out.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 - Philadelphia Phillies 6

Player of the Game

Indians starter Trevor Bauer won his second Player of the Game today after being on the roster for just four games this season. He threw 6.1 innings allowing no earned runs before a couple Yankees doubles chased him from the game. Nick Hagadone allowed the second of the runners to score giving Bauer two earned runs allowed in the end. He still earned a POG score of 2.87, the highest on the team.

Feathers Up

Two low scoring, fast games allowed the Indians to save their pitching staff and to get to Philadelphia as soon as possible on what was originally scheduled as a day off. The flexibility of the bullpen should allow Terry Francona to maneuver however he sees fit in the NL rules park. The games we so quick that the Indians and Yankees played two games before any other team even started one.

Trevor Bauer continues to improve in each start, setting a new season high in innings pitched today. While he did give up a run in the seventh after a couple of doubles, he only allowed five total hits and is starting to get his command under control. His two walks are a far cry from the 13 he walked across his first two Indians starts.

Feathers Down

Despite an early game that lasted just two and a half hours, the Yankees had enough time between games to add some pitching depth, sending Brennan Boesch back to AAA and bringing up Brett Marshall.

The Indians had some defensive issues for the first time in a long time in the first inning, when Carlos Santana botched an easy play to first to give Robinson Cano a single. He then over threw the pitcher allowing Jayson Nix to reach third. Nix then scored on an overthrow on an attempted double play by Mike Aviles. This unearned run was all the Yankees needed to win the game. Mark Reynolds added another error in the 7th inning that allowed another unearned run as well.

Nick Hagadone saw trouble in his second straight appearance. This time he came on with a runner on second and one out, but was only able to get out of the inning without damage. He allowed a walk, two singles and a double to give the Yankees a 6-0 lead.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 0 - New York Yankees 7