Indians take Battle of Ohio with 4-3 win over Reds; three takeaways

CINCINNATI-- The Cleveland Indians (69-51) took the Battle of Ohio from the Cincinnati Reds (52-69) in a resilient effort in Wednesday night’s 4-3 win and took a 4-2 season series victory.

Tribe starter Shane Bieber only lasted 4 1/3 innings and ended up with a no-decision. The Reds were able to get seven hits and three earned runs off of the RHP as they took a 3-0 lead after the first inning of play. Bieber left with five strikeouts and walked two batters.

Reds Starter Robert Stephenson only lasted 1 2/3 innings. The RHP struggled finding the strike zone, converting only 26 strikes out of his 56 pitches. He gave up two hits and two earned runs while walking four batters and collecting two strikeouts.

The Indians were able to cut the deficit to 3-2 after an RBI single from Greg Allen that brought Jason Kipnis home and Frankie Lindor grounded out to first to bring Allen home. The hero of the game though was Melky Cabrera as his two-run homer in the 6th inning was all the offense the Tribe needed to complete the sweep of the Reds.

Dan Otero secured the win for the Indians improving to 2-1 on the season and Brad Hand collected him 28th save of the year, fourth with the Tribe. Cody Reed of the Reds was charged with the loss and his record dropped to (0-1) on the season after giving up the home run to Cabrera in the 6th.

The Reds dropped their fourth game in a row and will start a three-game series at home Friday versus the San Francisco Giants. The Indians will take their five game winning streak home to Cleveland and start a three game series against the struggling Baltimore Orioles Friday Night at 7:10 pm.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

1. Collective Effort

All season long the Indians have been led by the top of their lineup. Tonight, Greg Allen and Melky Cabrera stepped up and helped win the game. It will take a collective effort and moving forward if the Indians hope to be a competitive team in the playoffs because Ramirez, Lindor and Brantley cannot carry this team by themselves.

2. The end of road struggles

The Indians struggled on the road for the majority of the season but after the sweep of the Reds, they have improved to a season-high four games above .500 on the road. The Tribe will need to continue playing well on the road if they want to be a serious World Series contender because the path to a title will not be going through Cleveland.

3. Resilient group

Injuries have hurt the Tribe all season long, from Lonnie Chisenhall to Bradley Zimmer to Edwin Encarnacion and now Leonys Martin and Trevor Bauer. But the Tribe hasn’t let that slow them down. This is a resilient bunch, and if a few of these guys can come back healthy once October rolls around, the Indians will be a dangerous foe no AL or NL team will want to face.