Here are 15 Walk-Off Thoughts after the Indians’ 11-4 win against the Detroit Tigers Friday night.
1. All 162 games count the same, the only difference is that in September, the stakes are clearer and right in front of every team. In this sense, Friday night’s win was a big one. It extended the Indians’ lead in the American League Central to seven games and dropped their magic number to nine with 15 games remaining.
2. In that sense, the Indians put some serious pressure on the Tigers. In all likelihood, the Tigers probably need to win most or perhaps all of the remaining six games between the two clubs this season. And, if the Indians take care of business this weekend, they can all but wrap up their first division title since 2007.
3. For the most part, the Indians wanted to look at this as another game. But in terms of the divisional race, it was key.
4. Said Corey Kluber, “Obviously, it's a big series, but I don't know if it was more pressure or anything like that. You know the situation. You know that we're ahead of them and they're chasing us. So, in that sense, it's a big series. But, you try to separate all that stuff, I guess, when you get out there in the game, and really try to just take it as another game. And go out there and try to score more than they do.”
5. Added Indians manager Terry Francona, “I don’t know if I care about the tone as much as, we set out today to win, and we did. So if you’d have asked me after a loss I’d say we turn the page and move on. So it’s the same thing. You quickly turn the page because so will they. We play tomorrow at 4, so it’s always nice to win the first one.”
6. Friday night’s game had the feel of a near-playoff-like atmosphere. And whether it really has correlated to success, who knows, but the Indians are 22-8 in front of crowds of 20,000-plus at home. It was felt Friday night.
7. Said Mike Napoli, “Yeah, it was nice, especially coming off that road trip it was a so-so road trip but we've played really well at home all year so I think all of us were looking forward to coming back home and sleeping in our beds and playing in front of our fans. It was electric. We got people ... the pom-poms, the red shirts and you could just feel the energy, which is adrenaline for us.”
8. How a team does against another in one year doesn’t really mean it’ll happen the next. But considering the Indians’ severe struggles against the Tigers in recent years, and how they’ve basically been treated like the bullied little brother, the Indians’ dominance over Detroit has been one of the more astounding stats for their 2016 season. The Indians are now 12-1 against the Tigers this season, a complete reversal of the last several years.
9. The Indians were able to capitalize on a couple of mistakes by the Tigers, who had a particularly bad night in the field on Friday. The first, and most notable, mistake came in the first inning, when Justin Upton couldn’t find a Mike Napoli fly ball and it went for a two-run ground-rule-double. The Tigers ended up with three errors, which opened the door for the Indians to continue to tack on and pull away.
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10. Said Francona, “But I thought we also were aggressive at the right times and took advantage of it. But man it’s nice to put a few runs up because their lineup is so potent. And when they sniff it coming, they get even better. It was nice to put a little distance [from them].”
11. Added Napoli, “It's huge, especially in a big game like this, but we've been able to do that all year. Other teams make mistakes and we've been able to pounce on them and take advantage. It's especially when we've got Kluber on the mound, scoring some runs and letting him settle in and be able to do what he wants.”
12. Napoli added a two-run bomb in the fifth and has now slugged 34 home runs, his career high and the most by an Indians player since Travis Hafner hit 42 in 2006, and driven in 98 runs. He’s been everything the Indians could have hoped for and more in their $7 million investment (not including performance bonuses, which will probably tack on about another $2-2.5 million), both on and off the field.
13. Said Napoli, “It's been a fun year. Going through free agency last year I envisioned this with the pitching staff and being able to come here and play for a winning team. I've been fortunate to be on a lot of winning teams and looking at places where I want to go, I want to go where I think we'll be able to win. I definitely saw that with the pitching staff and coming here, trying to get everyone to come together as a team and it has definitely worked out.”
14. And, as Francona has predicted, his home runs have come in bunches this season. Said Napoli, "I wish I could explain it. I don't know, I go through different feelings through the year. I feel really good at times and sometimes I don't. I try to minimize those times where I'm not feeling good and get back to having that timing and separation with my swing. I work hard every day, good or bad. I'm feeling better.”
15. Napoli was just pleased to just get a hold of a high fastball, a pitch that he often tries to hammer. Said Napoli, "For me, a high fastball like that ... I swing at them a lot, but I don't really connect with them. For me to get on top of that one and be able to drive it, I was pretty excited about it."