Indians earn smooth 3-2 win thanks to Brantley's early swing; three takeaways

Indians Royals recap: Baseball is officially back in The Land as the Indians won their second straight home opener as they topped the Kansas City Royals, 3-2.

CLEVELAND-- Baseball is officially back in The Land as the Indians won their second straight home opener, topping the Kansas City Royals, 3-2.

It's no secret that the Indians have had a slow start when it comes to swinging the bats this season, and on Friday they still only recorded four hits compared to Kansas City's seven, while stranding seven runners as well. In the end, however, their early lead would be more than enough to push them over the finish line.

They continue their series with the Royals tomorrow at 4:10 p.m., but for now, here are three takeaways from the home opener win.

1. Dr. Smooth's swing

As Yogi Berra once said, "it's deja vu all over again," as for the second year in a row a swing by Michael Brantley was the difference maker offensively in the home opener.

The Indians faced an early deficit, falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first inning. Jon Jay scored as Mike Moustakas grounded out, and Lucas Duda plated Whit Merrifield on an RBI single.

But Cleveland responded by getting their first five batters of the game on base. Francisco Lindor and Jason Kipnis both drew walks, allowing Jose Ramirez to record an RBI single. After that, Edwin Encarnacion drew another walk, leading the way for Michael Brantley to come up big with bases loaded and no outs.

Brantley singled on a line drive to right field on the first pitch of his at-bat off of a 93.9 mph two-seam fastball from Kansas City's Danny Duffy, plating both Kipnis and Ramirez to put the Indians up for good in the bottom of the first inning.

"For myself personally, I’ve had a lot of at-bats against Duffy in the past," Brantley said about attacking early. "I was trying to get a fastball early and just put a good swing on it. Like I said before, I had some nervous jitters, my first AB of the year. I was excited. He made a great pitch I was able to get just enough of."

It was just the latest example of Brantley coming in clutch.

"He’s an easy guy to bet on," Francona said following the game. "I could give you pages and pages of why. He’s the heart and soul of our team. He does everything the way you’re supposed to. If people saw the way he works to get healthy, it would be hard to bet against him or to ever want to bet against him.”

2. Cookie settles in

In his first home outing of 2018, Carlos Carrasco (5.40 ERA) earned his second win of the year.

Carrasco gave up five hits and two runs (both in the first inning), while striking out four and giving up just one (intentional) walk. After giving up an RBI single to Duda in the first inning, he retired the next 13 batters. He left the game following the sixth inning with a calf cramp.

“I thought he did a good job of settling down," Francona said. "It wasn’t easy. One time, (Yan Gomes) got knocked back with the wind. I thought he did a really good job of settling in. And then the last inning, he had a cramp in his calf, we didn’t know. But when he came out of the game, we were going to take him out anyway, but he goes, ‘I’ve had this cramp.’ He’s pitching through an intentional walk, bad conditions, good hitters and did a terrific job.”

Overall, Carrasco did a good job of getting hitters to chase pitches lower in the zone to record the first home opener win for an Indians starting pitcher since 2007:

3. Miller Time

The eighth inning was truly make or break, as Andrew Miller was on the mound and got into some trouble early on. He walked Jay in the leadoff spot before giving up a single to Merrifield, giving the Royals two runners on and no outs.

From there though, Miller struck out the side to end the inning. Friday was Miller's 36th relief outing since 2016 with at least three strikeouts, and as Francona said postgame, Miller's ability to work through tough situations like Friday's are what make him so uniquely good.

“Like he’s his own reliever," Francona said. "Once he has to start attacking, it’s like he gets better. That’s a good feeling. Not too often you look up and it's first and second, and you’re just not too sure they’re going to score. A lot of times, that’s not a good recipe, but with him you’re like, ‘I think we’re going to be OK.’”