7th Inning Rally Lifts Indians to Key 6-5 Win Over the Jays; a Couple Takeaways

There are some days when you just know it's going to be tough to do enouogh to win a game in the Majors.

Sunday it felt like that for the Indians, but there was one MAJOR issue with the situation:

They were playing two games.

The Toronto Blue Jays, after an 11-2 win Friday over the Tribe in a shortened game, came to Progressive Field smelling blood as the teams lined up for not one, but a pair of games. 

The first game, as discussed earlier Sunday, was a game that the Indians were never in thanks to an offense that was flat as a pancake.

Josh Naylor's solo homer was the team's only run, Aaron Civale struggled, the defense did the team no favors, and the team popped up it seemed at least twice an inning.

The end result was a 4-1 loss, dropping the Indians to just 27-23, and things started to seem tight as the club lined up for game two.

It didn't seem like the Indians were all that focused for the second game either - they were behind 4-0 in the third inning, and it looked like after the Jays regained the lead 5-4 in the 7th on a Marcus Semien single, the Tribe was headed for another setback.

Instead, the team got possibly their biggest win of 2021, as Jose Ramirez's sac fly in the 7th was the difference, a huge victory that puts them at 28-23, a 6-5 win over the Jays sending them home on a loss.

There's a lot to go through in this one, here's a couple takeaways from the victory.

1. Walk-Off Fun

The 7th inning looked like it would be just yet another lesson in futility, going down 1-2-3. 

The inning didn't get off to a good start with Josh Naylor flying out, but then after Yu Chang walk, Bradley Zimmer walked, and then Cesar Hernandez ALSO didn't take the bat off his shoulders - drawing a third straight free pass.

Amed Rosario drew - yes you guessed it - a walk - tying the game at five with one out.

Jose Ramirez won the contest with a sac fly to right, giving the Tribe a big walk-off that they truly needed based on how things have gone recently.

The team has still won 7 of its last 11 games following a 4-game skid and 16 of 26 overall.

Here's the Ramirez sac fly which won the game in the bottom of the 7th. 

A win like that of game two can be a true momentum builder. We will see if they can sneak out a pair against the first-place White Sox on Memorial Day Monday. 

2. Hentges Not Taking Advantage of Chances

Indians pitcher Sam Hentges was pretty much awful on Sunday, lasting just 2.1 innings, allowing four runs on four hits with three walks and two K's in allowing the Jays to build a 4-0 edge.

Coming off an outing in which he went five innings, allowing three runs on five hits with three walks and seven K's, he didn't have command or control Sunday, spelling his quick doom on the mound.

Indians manager DeMarlo Hale (filling in for an absent Terry Francona), was quick to pull the trigger on Hentges, and wound up using five pitchers.

It looked like Hale was going to turn into a genius, as the four pitchers he used up until the 7th inning all threw scoreless ball.

Then Hale made the mistake of going to Emmanuel Clase in the 7th and final frame.

Right after the Tribe had tied the game at four in the 6th, Clase came in and gave up a walk, a sac bunt, and a Marcus Semien, who was on base all day, singled to center to allow a run to score to make it 5-4. 

Clase and even Hale got off the hook after the Indians rallied for  the win, but the pitching issues stemmed from Hentges' struggles in the first couple innings. 

This team just isn't good or deep enough to be able to have starters only give them 1-2 innings of work on any night of the week.

We will see how Monday goes, but it's not a great start to the week even with the team getting the big win.

3. Turning the Page

Monday a massive series with the first place White Sox begins at Progressive Field with the 1st game of a double-header at 3:05pm.

The Sox will enter play Monday at 12 games over .500 at 32-20, and they lead the Tribe by 3.5 games in the AL Central.

Game one will feature Triston McKenzie going for the Indians, against Carlos Rodón and Jimmy Lambert who are set to split the seven-inning start for the White Sox. 

It's a four-game set, and the Indians have already shown at the plate and on the mound they can hang with the first-place Sox. 

We will see if they can get off to a good start at 3:05pm Monday.