CLEVELAND: In one of the bigger individual games this season, the Indians grabbed an early lead and held the Detroit Tigers down in an 11-4 win Friday night that added clarity to the American League Central Division race.
With the win, the Indians (85-62) extended their lead in the division over the Tigers to seven games and dropped their magic number down to nine. It also put the Tigers (78-69) into a position of likely needing to win most or all of the remaining six games between the two teams.
Mike Napoli was responsible for much of the damage, though he received some help in the first inning. Shortly after a louder-than-usual crowd response as the Indians took the field in a near-playoff-like atmosphere, Napoli hit a towering fly ball to left field off Tigers starter Michael Fulmer (10-7, 3.03 ERA) with two runners in scoring position. Justin Upton, in left, couldn’t find the ball in the lights. It bounced well behind him and cleared the 19-foot wall in left field for a ground-rule double that gave the Indians a 2-0 lead.
In the second inning, Carlos Santana added a two-run single through the right side of the infield to extend the Indians’ lead to 4-1.
In the fifth, Napoli didn’t leave as much doubt, crushing a two-run home run to the Home Run Porch that took one bounce and rolled out to the Gateway Plaza, making it 6-1. It was his 34th home run of the season, his career high and making him the first Indians player to hit that many in a season since Travis Hafner clubbed 42 in 2006.
Upton did his best to make up for his first-inning gaffe. In the second, he rocketed a solo home run to center field off Corey Kluber and later slammed a three-run home run off of Kluber that cut the Indians’ lead to 6-4 in the sixth inning.
Kluber (17-9, 3.12 ERA) was strong aside from facing Upton, finishing with four earned runs on five hits and three walks to go with seven strikeouts in seven innings. It was a performance that likely allows Kluber to tread water in the tight, crowded AL Cy Young race, but nothing more.
The Indians pulled away in the latter innings. From the sixth inning on, both Roberto Perez and Jose Ramirez drove in two runs with an RBI single and sacrifice fly each, and Jason Kipnis added an RBI ground-rule-double in the eighth, all combining to put the Indians on top 11-4. And with the blowout win, the Indians’ magic number shrunk into the single digits.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at www.ohio.com/indians. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RyanLewisABJ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RyanLewisABJ