Indians Rally In Ninth, Walk Off With 4-3 Victory

Fraze walked to start the game against Carlos Carrasco, followed by a comebacker and two whiffs. Mitch Keller tempted fate by walking the first three Indians; a DP and bouncer limited the damage to just a run. The Pirates went quietly in the second; Kell calmed down and held the Tribe to one walk. Carrasco struck out the side swinging in the third. Mitch and the plate apparently aren’t speaking terms as he walked three more Cleves, but escaped undented once again. Seven walks and 72 pitches in three innings do seem a bit excessive… The Pirates flexed with two gone in the fourth: J-Bell ripped a single and Gregory roped a dinger to right (113 MPH EV) to make it 2-1 Buccos. Mitch spun an 11-pitch, 1-2-3 frame. Pittsburgh went quietly in the fifth. The first Clevelander walked and was quickly erased via DP, leading to an easy inning. The Bucs opened the sixth with a Fraze knock and two walks; a J-Bell whiff and Gregory DP squelched that uprising. Nik Turley climbed the hill and tossed a clean frame.

Phil Maton threw an quiet seventh. Sam Howard gave up a walk and bunt single but escaped without a marker. Ollie Perez took the ball with one away in the eighth, and a Fraze two-bagger and Key single made it 3-1 Buccos. Chris Stratton patted the rosin and sat the Tribe down in order. Adam Plutko was tapped for a leadoff single in the ninth by Jared Oliva. Two outs later, he stole second and was left there. Strat stayed on the hill, and a walk and Jordan Luplow double later, it was 3-2. An out later, another single knotted the score. With two gone, a wild pitch moved the winning run to second, and it proved big when Cesar Hernandez singled him home to walk off the Cleveland win.

This was the first time in 27 outings Stratton worked the ninth inning while Ric Rod had yesterday off. If you’re all in on getting the number one pick, it was great managing. Otherwise…

Notes:

• Fraze had two hits and a walk; Key and J-Bell each had a walk and a knock.
• Mitch Keller has an 11-inning no-hit streak. Good thing, too, since he’s walked nine batters and plunked another during that span. According to Elias Sports, Keller is the second pitcher in the Modern Era (since 1900) to throw at least five innings and allow no hits in consecutive starts. The other is Johnny Vander Meer, who threw consecutive no-hitters for the Reds in 1938.
• Cory Giger of Nittany Sports Now (he was the former Altoona Mirror Pirates guy) has the latest on the Oneil Cruz legal proceedings.