Cleveland Indians Clinch Wild Card Birth With Victory
By Jason Evans
We do know that the Cleveland Indians will be hosting the Wild Card playoff game. What we don’t quite know just yet is who their opponent will be. The Cleveland Indians clinched their wild card birth today with their 5-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins for their 10th victory in a row. Tampa Bay won their game, and as of this post, the Texas Rangers game in ongoing.
Ubaldo Jimenez struck out 13 over 6.1 to earn the victory. When Justin Masterson went down, Jimenez really took over as the ace of the staff. Since July 26, his ERA is 1.72. He’s pitched 78.1 innings, struck out 94 and allowed just one homer. That’s getting it done.
They got off to a quick start of Scott Diamond. Michael Bourn led off the game with a single. Nick Swisher followed with his 22nd homer of the season, just over the outstretched glove of Clete Thomas.
They would tack on some insurance in the fifth. Carlos Santana reached on Pedro Florimon‘s error. Ryan Raburn followed with a single to make it first and second. Diamond’s fielding became a problem when he threw away Asdrubal Cabrera‘s sac bunt which allowed Santana to score and allowed Raburn to go to third. After a strikeout, Yan Gomes made it 4-0 with a sac fly.
The Indians got run number five in the second. Jason Kipnis walked and stole second. Santana then doubled to drive him home. The Twins would get their lone run in the seventh on a Eric Fryer single but were unable to muster any additional offense.
Player of the Game: Jimenez