With the season now in September, the Indians have been busy calling up players from the farm. That trend continued at Progressive Field on Wednesday, when a live chicken roamed the outfield during batting practice before the game against Baltimore.
The chicken, which wore a fashionable block “C” cape for Cleveland, helped loosen up the Indians, who went on to win, 6-4, over the Orioles to clinch a series victory and remain 3 1/2 games back of the Rays in the American League Wild Card race.
Bench players Yan Gomes and Ryan Raburn each chipped in a pair of RBIs and the bullpen tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings, leading to a lot of laughing — and lot of clucking — inside the clubhouse after the final out.
“I actually love it,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said of the chicken, which was brought in by a pair of mystery players. “They’re trying to have fun, and that’s the best way to be a good team. It doesn’t mean we’re not taking what we’re doing seriously, because we really do. But yeah, I think it’s a good way to come to the ballpark laughing. It’s a good atmosphere.”
With the win, the Indians (74-65) moved ahead of the Orioles (73-64) in the Wild Card race.
More than two decades after fictional Indians outfielder Pedro Cerrano wanted to sacrifice a live chicken for more power before a big game in the movie, “Major League,” Cleveland finally got its live chicken.
In the movie, of course, Cerrano’s teammates made a compromise by bringing in a bucket of KFC. The real Indians went all out on Wednesday, though Francona wanted to make it clear that no animals were harmed during the making of this victory.
But what would the chicken’s fate have been if the Tribe had lost?
“It wasn’t going to be dinner or anything,” Francona said.
The chicken’s presence was inspired by reliever Cody Allen, whose nickname is “Chicken Al.” Allen retired all four batters he faced in Wednesday’s game, striking out two of them.
Though he was a good sport about the chicken all along, Allen didn’t have a whole lot to say about it afterward. In his honor, the players took to calling it Cody.
“It was very calm,” Allen explained. “A very calm chicken. It handled itself well.”
The presence of the “Rally Chicken” — as it became known on Twitter — could be given credit for the Tribe’s offensive explosion during the first inning, in which Cleveland scored four runs, a total the team had failed to reach in eight of its previous 12 games.
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