Comeback falls short as Indians fall to the Yankees 5-4; three takeaways

Once losing 3-0 the Cleveland Indians fought back against the New York Yankees to tie things up at 4-4 before New York won things in the 7th. Indians starter

Once losing 3-0 the Cleveland Indians fought back against the New York Yankees to tie things up at 4-4 before New York won things in the 7th. Indians starter Mike Clevinger got off to a slow start as the Yankees benefited from a three run home run by Didi Gregorius, but soon was able to settle down and pitched rather well against the difficult Yankees hitters.

Jose Ramirez did his best to keep the Tribe in the game as he homered for the fifth time in as many games, giving Ramirez 29 home runs and 70 RBIs before the mid-summer break. The rest of the Indians offense was able to manufacture runs to get themselves back into the ballgame. One of the more impressive plays of the night was some good base-running by Ramirez and Michael Brantley, when both scored off an infield single by Brandon Guyer.

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone had himself a short night as he was tossed in the 6th inning for arguing a call in which the umpire called Giancarlo Stanton out on strikes, as Boone did not like the call. He made sure to let everyone know about it as he headed for the showers early Saturday night. Following the game Boone admits the Umpires got the call on the field right, Stanton on the other hand did not seem to feel at piece with the call.

Regardless the Yankees walked out of Progressive Field with a 5-4 victory and here are three takeaways...

1) Elite Company

Cleveland Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez joined some very elite company with his first inning home run. Ramirez became the third switch hitter in MLB history to hit 29 home runs before the All-Star break, joining Mickey Mantle (2x) and Lance Berkman.

Indians fans were pleased last season when Ramirez hit 29 home runs for the entire season, considering the double digit increase from 2016. Luckily for Indians fans Ramirez seems to have more up his sleeves this season as he has now matched his home run output from last year and there is still 68 games remaining this season. Ramirez's home run allowed him to stay tied with Boston Red Sox slugger JD Martinez who homered earlier in the day, if Ramirez is able to continue to keep pace with Martinez he would become the first Tribe hitter since Al Rosen (1950) to hold or share the MLB lead in home runs, who was tied with Ted Williams.

2) Settled in nicely

This one began as badly for Indians starter Mike Clevinger as it could have as he walked Brett Gardner to begin the game, before allowing Aaron Judge to single and giving Progressive Field killer Didi Gregorius the opportunity for a three run home run. So quickly falling down 3-0 is never ideal, but Clevinger was able to able to recover very nicely against an extremely difficult Yankees lineup to navigate.

Following Gregorius’ HR, Clevinger settled in nicely striking out eight over the course of six innings. A Greg Bird solo shot in the 6th proved to be the difference for Clevinger, as the fifth run New York scored was unearned following two throwing errors on a Austin Romine triple. The whole settling in factor is something Terry Francona and Clevinger have been working towards doing this season, as Francona has gained more and more trust for the 27 year old to weather the storm.

3) Damn Yankees

Saturday night was the third of the four game weekend series between the Yankees and Indians, it was also the second time this series the Yankees were able to win a game with some timely scoring late in the ballgame. In the opening game on Thursday it was the Yankees first scoring two in the 8th before adding one for good measure in the 9th to break open what was once a 4-4 ballgame. In the grand scheme of things these two loses are just that, two loses but when you’re trying to measure yourself against the Yankees of the league, these two seem bigger. One game remains before the All-Star break, and the Indians are a few steps behind New York at this point. Don’t worry Tribe fans, that’s okay! The trade deadline is weeks away, with the Indians expecting to active, these two teams will look a lot different come a date in October.