Ryan Raburn hits 2 home runs in Cleveland’s 8th straight win

Don’t look now, but both the Cleveland Indians and Ryan Raburn are smoking hot.

Raburn blasted two home runs to lead the Indians to a decisive 6-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday night, and it wasn’t exactly a surprising result (despite the lack of name recognition). For the season, Raburn is now sporting a .283/.377/.584 slash line with 13 home runs, and he’s been a revelation for the much-improved Indians. On this day, his two blasts stood out as key moments, but they are simply the icing on what has been a red-hot Indians team.

With the win, Cleveland has now won 8 straight games. At 60-48, they have climbed firmly into the race for a playoff spot, and while most people feel that the Detroit Tigers will cruise to the AL Central title, an interjection by Cleveland certainly isn’t out of the question. In addition to Raburn’s heroics, Justin Masterson cruised through 6.2 innings (allowing 1 earned run) for his 13th victory, and both Drew Stubbs (wow) and Carlos Santana posted 3-for-4 days at the plate.

Perhaps it is too early to “peak” at the beginning of August, but if Cleveland can continue this level of play, they are going to be, at the very least, a terrifying team to face as October approaches on the calendar.