Try telling Michael Brantley that the current series is not important. Watch the way he carried the bat with him up the first-base line, keeping a firm grip on the handle as he waited to see if the ball cleared the right-field wall. Then, look at how Brantley flipped it away and howled.
Brantley flexed both arms as he rounded first, pumped his left fist and let out another scream. After all the frustrations experienced over the past week, and with the rival Tigers in town on Monday night, this win meant something. Each victory carries weight, but Cleveland’s 5-4, 10-inning walk-off win was a weight lifted.
“It’s huge, especially at the start of a big series, a big rivalry,” said Brantley, who provided the decisive blow with a solo home run off Al Alburquerque in the final frame. “Any time you play in the division, it’s very important. Hopefully it’s a momentum boost and we’ll ride that momentum.”
Indians manager Terry Francona does not believe that any one game or series is more meaningful than the next. Cleveland’s players have followed that lead for the most part, downplaying the importance of the current three-game set with division-leading Detroit during interviews in the past few days.
There is an old baseball adage that says titles are not won early in a season, but they sure can be lost. In that way, Monday’s win did matter for the Tribe. From where the Indians are sitting in the American League Central standings, they can ill-afford to lose much more ground than has already slipped away.
The Indians, who entered Monday having lost six of their past eight games, remained in the Central’s cellar but cut Detroit’s lead to 9 1/2 games. All Cleveland can hope to do now is continue to chip away at that considerable deficit.
“For us to come back and beat these guys,” Indians first baseman Nick Swisher said, “it’s a huge step in the right direction for us. We’re still in this thing. We’re only 45 games in and we know what we can do. We have a lot of guys, myself included, who aren’t playing as well as [we’d] like to be, but I think tonight was a good starting point to turn things around a little bit.”
Indians starter Corey Kluber, who has turned in a 2.34 ERA over his past six outings, set the tone again, turning in seven solid innings against the Tigers. Victor Martinez tagged the right-hander for a leadoff home run in the second and Rajai Davis sliced a pitch for a two-run double in the seventh, but that was all Kluber relinquished.
Kluber struck out eight, walked two and was in line for the win after Indians rookie Jesus Aguilar came through with a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the seventh that pushed Cleveland ahead, 4-3. Earlier in the game, Aguilar’s first career hit was an RBI single that capped off a two-run fifth against Tigers lefty Drew Smyly. In that inning, Swisher also chipped in a run-scoring hit.
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