Ryan Raburn made the most of his return to the Indians’ lineup on Thursday night after missing four games due to pain in his left heel.
Raburn smashed a three-run homer in the first and drove in a season-high five runs, leading an offensive eruption to back Corey Kluber in a 14-3 win at U.S. Cellular Field. The Tribe remains 1 1/2 games behind the Rays for the second American League Wild Card spot, but passed the Orioles, who lost to the Yankees, in the pecking order.
Cleveland exceeded its combined run total in the final two games of its just-concluded series against the Royals in the first three innings of this blowout.
With one out in the first, Nick Swisher hit his 18th homer, a solo shot to left-center. Jason Kipnis followed with a single and Carlos Santana walked to set the table for Raburn, who ripped a 1-2 fastball from White Sox starter John Danks into the left-field seats for his 16th homer, staking Kluber to a four-run lead.
Danks said he couldn’t get anything to work for him.
“I just couldn’t do what I wanted to do,” the left-hander said. “Nothing worked. I threw the ball where I wasn’t supposed to throw it and got my [butt] kicked.”
Raburn — who went on the disabled list in August with a strained left Achilles and had pain in the heel flare up again Saturday — has hit 17 career home runs against the White Sox, the most he has hit against any team.
“We said coming into this series that Raburn would hopefully play a big part, because we were going to face three lefties,” manager Terry Francona said. “But he did what he’s done so often this year. He not only gets hits, but he gives us a lot of production for a guy that plays maybe half the year or not even [half]. He’s given us a lot of production out of that bat.”
Francona added that Raburn’s confidence and ability to keep his swing consistent, despite having played in only three games since Aug. 18 due to calf and heel injuries, has enabled him to continue to produce offensively.
“I think he’s confident, and he should be,” Francona said. “He’s had success all year and I think confidence plays a big part in it. But he’s maintained his swing all year. It’s been pretty rare where he’s not had his timing or not had his balance. He’s really been consistent with it and as a bench player, that’s not the easiest thing to do.”
After adding one run in each of the next three frames, Cleveland posted a seven-run fifth inning that included a 17-minute rain delay.
Asdrubal Cabrera launched a solo shot for his 12th homer, and following three consecutive walks, Michael Bourn and Swisher hit back-to-back singles. Following another walk, Santana also singled before Raburn hit a two-run single to make it 14-2.
Click here to read more of this story.
About Marion Online Sports
