While it wasn’t quite the battle of aces from the previous night, Trevor Bauer and Jose Quintana staged quite an impressive pitching duel of their own on Tuesday night at U.S. Cellular Field.
Bauer, who pitched into the eighth inning, was just a little bit better in leading the Indians to a 3-1 victory over the White Sox — a rare win this season for the Tribe in a tight game against an American League Central opponent.
“I don’t think it was his best command, but he threw all his pitches for strikes,” Indians manager Terry Francona said of Bauer. “He had a real good breaking ball. In this cold weather, I thought that was something. And he made them respect all his pitches, and he competed.”
Amazingly, it was the first win for Bauer (3-1) since April 15, despite quality starts in all but two of his eight outings this season. That and the fact that ace Corey Kluber, who battled Chris Sale in Monday’s classic, has just one win tells all you need to know about the Indians’ struggles in close games.
The Tribe is 0-4 one-run games, 0-2 in extra innings and 1-6 in games decided in the sixth inning or later.
Those grim numbers are one reason everyone was up and cheering in the top of the eighth when Brandon Moss belted a home run to turn a 2-1 lead into a 3-1 lead. That was especially big considering that pesky Adam Eaton led off the bottom of the inning with a single.
“It’s big,” Bauer said of the insurance run. “It gives you a little bit of space. If Eaton gets on, you don’t have to worry as much about him stealing second because even if he scores, you’re still up one and it allows you to focus more on the hitter. Any time you get that insurance run, it gives a little room to breath.”
Still, the Indians needed four pitchers to record three outs in the eighth. With Eaton at first base, Bauer retired Melky Cabrera for the first out. Bryan Shaw then came on to face slugger Jose Abreu, who drew a walk after Eaton advanced to second on a passed ball. Left-hander Marc Rzepczynski struck out Adam LaRoche for the second out, and closer Cody Allen came on to strike out Avisail Garcia to end the threat.
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