Cleveland Indians Win Seventh in a Row, Sweep Rangers

The Indians completed the sweep of the Texas Rangers with a ninth-inning tie-breaking single by Franklin Gutierrez and now hold the cards on a seven game win streak.

Next up is a trip to Detroit and a chance to catch the Tigers for third place in the division. The Indians are currently 1.5 games back of the Tigers and have three cracks at them in the next three days.

In his fourth start for the Indians, Anthony Reyes went seven innings, allowing one run on four hits, while striking out four and walking four. His 107 pitches, 61 for strikes, was his highest pitch count to date in a Tribe uniform.

Just like his last three outings, Reyes got ahead in the count early on most hitters. He left the game up 3-1 and in line for a win. Unfortunately he didn’t get it. The Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the third.

Joaquin Arias opened the frame with a single to center field. After a Frank Catalanotto pop-out for the first out of the inning, Arias swiped second. Michael Young walked, Josh Hamilton struck out, but ex-Indian Milton Bradley singled to left, scoring Arias.Hank Blalock flied out to end the inning, but Texas was up 1-0.

Meanwhile, Texas starter Vincente Padilla was on cruise control through the first three innings. He struck out the side in both the first and the third, and had another strikeout in the second.

That made seven strike-outs recorded for the first nine outs. Pretty impressive, and he looked all of that going into the fourth. While Padilla would get another K in the fourth, he also allowed three hits.

Jhonny Peralta registered the first Indians hit of the evening, singling to left with one out. Shin-Soo Choo, the extra-base hitting machine, tripled to center field, scoring Peralta. Ryan Garko sac-flied, scoring Choo and giving the Indians a 2-1 lead. They’d add another in the fifth.

Franklin Gutierrez started the Indians off with a single. After a Marte ground-out, Grady Sizemore walked, and Jamey Carroll was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. David Dellucci also got plunked, walking in Gutierrez, and making it 3-1 Indians.

Padilla, the same guy who struck out seven batters in three innings, walked three guys in a row, demonstrating just how easy it is to go from great to mediocre. Peralta bailed him out by grounding into an inning ending double play.

Joaquin Benoit relieved Padilla in the sixth, and picked right up on the strikeout total, getting two of his three outs on whiffs. Additionally, Benoit is the second guy on the Rangers lineup with the first name Joaquin. It’s not just me typing Joaquin over and over.

In the bottom of the eighth, Juan Rincon came on for the Indians. After getting Hamilton to ground-out, Bradley hit an infield single. The Rangers substituted Jason Ellison as a pinch runner. Blalock singled him over to second. Marlon Byrd struck out for the second out of the inning.

Rincon then got charged with a wild pitch, moving Ellison to third. Gerald Laird doubled, plating Ellison and moving Blalock to third. Rincon then walked Chris Davis on four pitches, and Rafael Betancourt took over. Ramon Vasquez pinch hit for Arias, and drew a free pass, making this the second walked in run of the game, one for each side, and the score was tied up 3-3.

Betancourt then got Catalanotto to ground out, keeping the game tied at three, but earning a blown-save in the process. Eddie Guardado came on in the ninth for Texas, and by doing so earned the loss. He gave up a single to Garko. Gonzalez was sent in to pinch run.

Shoppach sacrificed Gonzalez to second for the first out of the inning. The Sacrifice paid off when Gutierrez hit a single to centerfield, scoring Gonzalez. Marte and Sizemore registered successive strike-outs, but the Indians led 4-3.

Betancourt came back out in the ninth, pitching a 1-2-3 inning and the Indians win 4-3. The Indians scored four runs on eight hits, while the Rangers managed three runs on seven hits. Gutierrez and Peralta each had a pair for the Indians. Milton Bradley had two for the Rangers.

And if you’ve been wondering about Andy Marte: yes, his batting average is still in the ones.

The Indians are right back in action on Monday night, taking on the Detroit Tigers.

Cleveland is 13-3 in their last sixteen games, including three sweeps out of the last five series. Zach Jackson(0-0, 5.17 ERA) will try to keep the Indians seven game win streak alive against Detroit’s Armando Gallaraga(12-4, 3.17 ERA). Gallaraga beat the Indians once already this year on July 29th with an 8-5 win. Game time is 7:05.