Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images
GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- 17 days until Opening Day.
-Groundhog days continues (that’s a good thing so far) as the Tribe split a pair of split squad games on Sunday. Losing to the Brew Crew 5-4 at home and beating the Royals 3-1 behind the power of Roberto Perez and Brandon Barnes.
-Carlos Carrasco was dominate in his start vs the Brewers as he faced 9 hitters in 3 innings of work as he struck out 6, allowed 1 hit. After his 3 innings of work he went to the bullpen to get up to 60 pitches thrown. After being placed into a slow roll into the spring, Carrasco has been almost unhittable in his first two spring starts.
-Francisco Lindor lead off the bottom of the 1st w a home run, Jason Kipnis picked up a pair of hits including a triple.
-Both Cody Allen and Andrew Miller followed Carrasco with scoreless innings thrown.
-The Indians also pulled off a rare triple play in the 6th on a ball hit to Jose Ramirez.
-In Surprise the Tribe’s offense was paced by a two-run homer from Perez in the 3rd, and Barnes hit a solo shot in the 5th.
-Young lefties Shawn Morimando and Ryan Merrit combined to throw 5 scoreless innings and were followed up by a shutout inning by left handed reliever Tyler Olson who throw a shutout inning.
-A lot of fan fare was made of Rajia Davis getting signed early in the spring. Davis has been his usually jovial self so far and done his job on the field. But the job he’s doing with both Bradley Zimmer and Greg Allen has been tremendous as he’s been talking to both of the young outfielders about the art of stealing bases. Both Allen and Zimmer have raved about what it has meant to have Davis around so far this spring.
-All signs point towards Lindor hitting leadoff when the regular season begins. It’s something he at first didn’t want, but after having success with it in the second half of last season he wants it. He believes that he can dictate the aggressiveness of the team’s offense by starting the game the right way.
-Terry Francona has been non-committal about how he will put his line up together but with 6 regulars that hit from the left side it will be difficult to break up the glut of left handed hitters. This makes you think despite the success that Jose Ramirez had last year in the 3 hole that he may end up batting 5th because he’s a switch hitter and can protect Edwin Encarnacion, with Michael Brantley in the 3 hole. Stay tuned.
-Monday the Tribe will host the Texas Rangers with Trevor Bauer on the mound.
- Andre Knott