Indians take game one in doubleheader against Tigers; three takeaways

After a scheduled day off for the first time in over three weeks on Thursday, the Indians are taking on the Detroit Tigers Friday in their second consecutive doubleheader.

Cleveland continued to roll to their eighth straight win in game one, topping the Tigers, 3-2.

After the Tigers came back in the eighth inning to tie the game up, some ninth inning heroics (from the plate and in the field) sealed the deal for Cleveland.

Before game two starts, here are our three takeaways.

1. Ninth inning heroics

The Indians held a 2-1 lead over the Tigers after Edwin Encarnacion hit solo-homer to left field in the sixth inning. In the eighth inning, however, Detroit tied the game at two runs apiece on a Mikie Mahtook RBI single.

With one out, Indians manager Terry Francona brought in Jay Bruce to pinch hit for Giovanny Urshela. In the fourth pitch of the at-bat, Bruce smacked an 82 mph slider to center field that narrowly missed clearing the wall. The hit was good enough for Bruce to easily make it into third base.

In the next at-bat, Francisco Lindor followed up Bruce with a single of his own on a 95 mph two-seamer to drive Bruce home give the Tribe a one-run lead.

Those heroics continued into the bottom of the ninth as well. Cody Allen gave up three singles to load the bases in the inning. The third one to Alex Presley should have driven in a run, but thanks to a great throw by Lonnie Chisenhall in center, the Tigers were unable to score.

Joe Smith came in to face Miguel Cabrera, who lined out to Lindor to end the game. When all was said and done, Allen earned the win while Smith got the save.

2. Cookie's no-decision

Carlos Carrasco had another great outing for Cleveland, but got the no-decision since the Tigers tied things up in the eighth.

In seven innings, Carrasco gave up six hits and just one earned run while striking out eight. Carrasco also did a great job of getting the Tigers to chase pitches out of the strike zone:

While Cookie didn't get his 14th win of of the year, he still did a great job of putting the team in position to pick up the W.

3. Eight is great

With the win, the Indians are now on an eight-game win streak. They will look to tie their longest win streak of the season at nine games later tonight. The team previously won nine games from July 21-29.

Despite the long grind that was the month of August, the Indians have now won 29 of their last 40 games.

Mike Clevinger will face off against Buck Farmer in game two at 7:10 p.m.

Check back later tonight for our coverage of the second game, but one thing's for sure: This Cleveland squad is looking more and more like a team of destiny with each passing day.