Trevor Bauer tosses shutout as Indians sweep Tigers

Today’s recap in gif form

Actual recap

Trevor Bauer shutout the Detroit Tigers while every spot in the lineup pitched in for a total of eight runs, all leading to a series sweep for the Cleveland Indians.

Bauer needed 117 pitches in order to complete the shutout, but it’s the first of his major league career. And besides, 117 pitches for Bauer converts to about 90 pitches for any other starter.

Eight Tigers fell by strikeout this afternoon, but an efficiency unusual for this season guided Bauer’s day. He didn’t walk a single batter, which is a welcome divergence from his 4.08 BB/9 mark on the season. For much of the game the strikeout didn’t factor in much, either. Rather than blowing people away, Bauer induced weak contact for much of the game, as evidence by his 11 ground ball outs and eight fly outs. Only four of the Tigers who managed to put a ball into play earned a hit.

Meanwhile, Oscar Mercado and Jason Kipnis starred for the offense this afternoon. Kipnis did most of his damage early. In the top of the first he knocked a double to left that scored Carlos Santana. In the third, he took a slider in the bottom half of the zone over the wall in left for a two-run job. He added his third and final hit in the top of the eighth. While this one didn’t lead to or create any runs, there’s still reason for us to celebrate it: today marks the first three-hit game for Kipnis this year.

Mercado singled in Lindor in the top of the third, then followed that up in the fourth inning by scoring Tyler Naquin and Roberto Pérez on another single. He drove in a fourth run on a double in the top of the sixth, and managed to reach base for a fourth time by walking in the eighth.

While these were the most noteworthy performances of the day, they weren’t the only ones worth discussing. Jake Bauers kept his bat hot with two hits and a walk, while Pérez did the same. In fact, every Indians’ starter reached base today, and the only one that did so without earning a hit was Leonys Martin. He came around to score, though he did it in a much more conventional way than his straight-steal of home last night.

And so another weekend of Indians baseball comes to a close. I find it kind of bemusing that the team decided to become entertaining at the exact moment I mentally distanced myself from their performance. They’ve won eight of their last eleven, including games against the Twins and Yankees in that stretch. Have the Indians finally turned a corner? Is the cycle-slapping Jake Bauers the one we can expect to watch for the rest of the summer? Will today’s performance convince the front office that Kipnis deserves another 100 at-bats at the Major League level?

Only time will tell. I’m just glad that, right now, this team is a hell of a lot of fun to watch again.

Bit, you can Tid my Tribe.

• José Ramírez obliterated a baseball in the eighth inning with two runners on that very, very nearly became a three-run home run. I desperately wanted it to stay fair because any amount of confidence on his shoulders right now should be welcomed. Alas, it hooked just foul, and he grounded out instead.
• Six of the Indians’ runs came with two outs; Kipnis batted in three, while Mercado plated the other three.
• Carlos Santana’s double “went” 423 feet.
• Lindor struck out three times today, though he saw a total of nineteen pitches in those at-bats. The last strikeout came on a filthy back-door cutter that I think is completely forgivable. He also smoked a double and earned an intentional walk.
• Bebo/Berto/Big Bad Catcher Man is now hitting .245/.345/.490 this season. In-season WAR isn’t great, but he’s sneaking his way up the FanGraphs leader board. Since I’m staring at it right now I just want to point out that Mitch Garver is going to get a nice, big hug from regression.

Anyway, the Indians take on the Rangers tomorrow night in Texas. More importantly, MIKE CLEVINGER RETURNS.