Game #41 Observations: Indians Top the Royals 5-2 Behind Plesac's Strong Start

CLEVELAND - With 20 games left in the season the Indians have a great shot based on their schedule to be crowned the AL Central champs once again, but that doesn’t mean they can take a team like the Kansas City Royals lightly.

Monday the Indans and Royals played for the 7th time in 2020, and the Tribe took care of business, beating KC’s best starter in Brad Keller in a 5-2 decision.

The Indians are now 5-2 against the Royals with three more against them this week, and to say winning the final three against Kansas City is important is an understatement.

Zach Plesac was excellent again, going seven innings, allowing one run on seven hits (KC registered one hit in each of the seven innings against Plesac), striking out four to move to 3-1.

The win also puts the Indians up to now 11 games over .500 at 26-15, their high water mark for 2020.

Via Mandy Bell of Indians.com on Twitter, the Tribe has now won 9 of their last 12 games, and the starters have an impressive 2.19 ERA (70 IP, 17 ER) with 76 strikeouts in that span.

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Here are some observations on the Monday night win over the Royals at Progressive Field.

Plesac Bends But Doesn’t Break

Indians starter Zach Plesac had an effective night for the Tribe despite allowing seven hits, one each in the seven innings he pitched.

"His tempo is always good and he was he managed to come back in counts," Indians acting manager Sandy Alomar Jr. said of Plesac.

"He didn't walk people, and that's a good recipe right there, and he's looking good."

He allowed a solo homer to Adablerto Mondesi for the only run allowed, a “no-doubt” shot that went 458 feet on a 3-1 pitch in the 7th.

Overall he threw 96 pitches, 67 strikes, and in seven innings, gave up a run on seven hits with no walks and four K’s.

He lowers his ERA to 1.32 (from 1.33) and moves to 3-1 on the season.

"These two wins (since coming back from the alternate training site), that's all you ask for," Plesac said.

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Plesac also continues to be excellent against the Royals, as he moves to 5-0 against them lifetime.

“He is the same pitcher, he’s always been a motivated kid, he goes to the mound to win, he’s always seemed to be the same person,” Alomar said.

His next start is slated this weekend on Saturday against the Twins at Target Field.

"Mentally just having the attitude just trying to pitch as deep as I can into the games," Plesac said when asked about his success in 2020.

Good Approach Against Keller

The last time Brad Keller went up against the Indians was back on August 31st he was solid, allowing a run on three hits in 6.1 innings in a game won by the Royals 2-1.

Monday the Indians were much better against him, and their approach at the plate was better as well.

"The guys were able to get him up in the zone and able to drive the ball," Alomar said.

"He's been tough against us, he's one of their better pitchers, but we had a better approach today."

They pushed two across in the second, taking advantage of an error on a ball hit by Tyler Naquin (two RBIs) and a Josh Naylor fielder’s choice made it 2-0 Tribe.

They scored a single run in the fourth on a sac fly by Naquin, and sent eight to the plate in the 7th scoring two more, knocking Keller from the game.

Keller is one of the few bright spots for the Royals in a dismal shortened 2020, as he entered play Monday at 3-1 with a 1.93 ERA.

Middle of the Order Delivers

The middle of the Tribe order came through on Monday evening, though one major miscue made the numbers from being even better.

The mistake was made by Tribe shortstop Francisco Lindor, who led off the 6th with a single, and then Carlos Santana hit one in the gap for a sure double.

Lindor didn’t know if the ball was caught, and missed second base, and on the appeal the Royals got the out and Lindor was eliminated at third.

Despite that, Lindor had two hits, Santana would have had two hits but the double was changed to a fielder’s choice so he was credited with one hit, and Franmil Reyes had two hits (both singles) and a walk.

Franmil Reyes Catching Up with the Fastball

It was good to see Reyes get back on track after a weekend in which he struggled at the plate against the Brewers.

Reyes raised his average to .322 on the season, Santana is sitting at .206, while Lindor is at .287 after his 2-for-3 effort.

Tyler Naquin, hitting 6th after Reyes, earned a pair of RBI’s in the win, one on an error in the 2nd and another on a sac fly to make it a 3-1 game in the 4th.

Per usual, if the Indians score first they win, as they moved to 20-5 scoring first in 2020, and also they had eight hits, putting them at 12-4 on the year when putting up between six and nine hits.

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For more from Matt Loede, follow him on Twitter @MattLoede. Follow CBI on Twitter @IndiansonSI

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