Bauer and Indians Stay Hot, Stop Tigers 4-1 for 6th Straight Win; Three Takeaways

CLEVELAND - Trevor Bauer is having by all accounts an All-Star season, and Saturday night in front of a sold out audience at Progressive Field, his mastery was again on display.

Looking much like teammate and two-time Cy Young award winner Corey Kluber, Bauer struck out 11 Tigers over 6.1 innings as the Indians cruised to their 6th straight with with a solid 4-1 win.

Bauer looked again like a pitcher with everything going his way, as despite a wild pitch that allowed the only Tigers run to score in the second, he was in control all day and blew past Detroit to help the Indians continue what's been a fruitful homestand after losing the first two games against the Twins.

The pitcher was helped out by some sloppy defense by the Tigers, who committed three errors in the game, and the Indians put up a three spot in the first to take control early and give Bauer a lead.

Here's three takeaways as the Indians will look for the sweep on Sunday at 1:10pm.

1. Mound Mastery for Bauer

Trevor Bauer is making all of baseball turn their heads to what he's been able to do over the first half of the 2018 season.

Saturday against the Tigers was no different than most of his outings this year, as he went 6.1 innings, allowing a run on four hits in the what looked to be rather easy 4-1 win.

How good has Bauer been against the Tigers in 2018? How about 4-0 with a 1.23 ERA in four starts against the Tigers.

The 11 K effort was also his seventh double-figure strikeout game of the season, including five of his last six starts. He's on a roll right now, and while he's still looking to amass some more wins, he looks ultra confident on the mound, and for good reason the way he's throwing the ball.

2. A Sweeping Success

The Indians have a shot on Sunday at 1:10pm to wrap up a homestand that at first looked like it might be a disaster the way it started against the Twins.

After losing last Friday and Saturday, the Tribe has been perfect in six games against the Twins, White Sox and now Tigers. A win on Sunday means a 7-2 homestand against their AL Central rivals, a mark that again pushes them out to an even further lead in the division.

Most of the games have seen two things happen that have allowed the Indians to walk out a winner. The first is good starting pitching, not a surprise, and the other is the fact they seem to be taking advantage of other teams mistakes.

1. More Steady Work from the Pen

While the team will still almost for certain look for pen help around the deadline, the three relief pitchers that took the bump on Saturday are pitchers that you almost can now bet you'd see any day in a win.

The first to come in was Oliver Perez, who continues to impress and Saturday did his job, throwing 11 pitches but striking out one in retiring two batters.

Next was Neil Ramirez, who turned around a rough start in the Majors and now is a stabilizing force for the bullpen.

Saturday he went an inning with a walk and two K's in just 12 pitches. Last but not least to protect the save was Cody Allen, and he threw just 14 pitches in the one inning of work, striking out two Tigers batters in the win.

For a pen that has been downright bad at points, lately they have been getting the job done which is a welcome sight.