Sizemore, Indians Drill Blue Jays

Score: Indians 12 Blue Jays 0


Turning Point: With a 3-2 count, Grady Sizemore led off the game with a home run to right center. That made the score 1-0 and the rout was on.


Analysis: The Tribe bats broke out of their slump in a big way, even if just for the evening. Sizemore’s lead off home run set the tone for the evening, and when the dust settled, the Indians had scored twelve times on twelve hits. But the domination didn’t stop there. Aaron Laffey had another tremendous outing. He pitched seven shutout innings giving up six hits and striking out a pair of Jays. He finally got his first victory of the season after the Indians offense backed up his pitching performance.


MVP: Grady Sizemore
Hopefully this is a sign that Grady has broken out of his mini-slump. Sizemore was 3-5 with two home runs, a double, and five runs driven in. He raised his batting average eighteen points at the plate tonight from .264 to .282.


Extras:

- Sizemore wasn’t the only Indian producing runs either. Both Asdrubal Cabrera and Victor Martinez had multi-hit and multi-RBI games. Cabrera, who has been stagnant at the plate recently, went 2-4 with two RBIs. Victor was also 2-4, and he drove in three Indians.

- Cleveland only left four men on base in this game.

- Tonight was the second night in a row where the Indians had a six run inning. Last night they scored six in the seventh, and tonight tagged Dustin McGowan for six in the first inning.

- Eight of the twelve runs scored by the Tribe came with two outs.


Next Up: The Indians will go for the series win tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 PM from Progressive Field. Although tonight’s pitching match up fizzled, tomorrow afternoon could be another good one. Fausto Carmona will take the mound for Cleveland. He had a short outing last time out in New York. He only went five innings, giving up three runs on six hits, and two strikeouts. Again walks haunted Carmona. Carmona is 3-1 with a 2.95 ERA. Former Florida Marlin, A.J. Burnett, will give it a go for Toronto. Burnett struggled out of the gate this season, but he has really had pretty solid starts since mid-April. Burnett is 3-3 with a 5.19 ERA.