The Cleveland Indians were approaching truly scary territory early in Sunday’s game against the Detroit Tigers.
The Indians entered the sixth inning trailing 3-1 and another ugly loss seemed in the works.
Eddie Rosario was able to get a run across to cut the lead to 3-2 before things opened up in the seventh.
Yu Chang, smiling and all, hit a huge two-RBI single and Jordan Luplow followed it up with a home run.
Framil Reyes and Austin Hedges later added home runs of their own as the hitters struggling the most finally woke up.
The Indians scored nine runs and all nine starters came around to score in the 9-3 victory.
Talk about an Easter miracle.
Jor welcome.#OurCLE pic.twitter.com/48yTvNWXaa
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) April 4, 2021
Everyone Plays a Part
No one player had some monumental day.
Instead, everyone got on base and contributed to the victory.
Perhaps the best part was the fact the offense woke up late in a game.
Thank Yu.#OurCLE pic.twitter.com/7ezxdf0LLb
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) April 4, 2021
The Indians never folded and someone like Reyes who could not hit all weekend finally hit a bomb into the stands.
The same is true for Luplow after a rough start.
We are obviously only three games into a 162-game season.
So looking at the first two games and making sweeping assumptions is foolish.
However, trends do emerge early and the Indians were trending in the wrong direction against a Tigers team that is not expected to compete in 2021.
They were due for a big game and it finally happened.
Another Great Pitching Performance
The pitching has been great so far.
That continued Sunday with Aaron Civale going seven strong innings and allowing only three earned runs.
He also had six strikeouts as fans got to see his new delivery that looked sharp all day.
Doing that should set up any team to win.
Cal Quantrill and Emmanuel Clase combined to provide two scoreless innings of relief as fans got a glimpse at two young and hyped arms in the bullpens.
Clase hitting 101 on the radar gun was a beautiful sight to behold.
And he kept doing it over and over.
Looking Ahead
The Indians return to Progressive Field on Monday for the home opener and will be back in front of the home crowd for the first time since 2019.
Showing up with an 0-3 record would have spoiled what should be one big party Monday afternoon.
Getting the win Sunday allows the team to relax and play free against a Kansas City Royals team that is beatable.
One fun note from the series is that Carlos Santana will be making his return in a new uniform.
He will surely get plenty of cheers, but hopefully he struggles whenever he plays against his former team.
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