Indians Confidential

As the bottom of the 8th closed in, it sure did appear that the Indians were headed for yet another early season setback. They trailed 2-1, hadn’t hit the ball much at all off of Royals starter Gil Meche, and the midday crowd at Progressive Field seemed more than ready to head home before rush hour hit downtown Cleveland.

Enter Grady Sizemore.

It was the best player on the Indians roster who finally gave the team a spark, coming through with a monster three-run homerun off of Royals reliever Ron Mahay that put the Tribe ahead for good in their eventual 5-2 win. The homer was the 6th of the season for Sizemore, tying him for the team lead.

The Indians had tied the game earlier in the inning after an error allowed Asdrubal Cabrera to score to make it 2-2. The team had finally gotten something going against Meche and company, and then after Trey Hillman pulled Meche, Grady provided all the offense the team would need to get their 6th win against 10 losses.

Another positive was the pitching of Jensen Lewis, who pitched two scoreless innings to earn his second win of the season. He talked postgame about turning the corner, and overcoming what was a tough week last week when he was beat up a bit by the Yankees in their four-game series. The bullpen needs all the help it can get, and Lewis’ outing was a great sign.

Then there is Kerry Wood, who earned his third save, and again was overpowering, striking out two Royals batters and then getting a weak roller to the mound to end the game. It was good to see after he allowed a two-run homer to make it a close game on Tuesday night.

Eric Wedge also talked postgame about the importance of winning a series, the first of the season with the win. Now they can get set for a three-game series with the Twins starting on Friday. Then it’s three vs the Red Sox, Monday through Wednesday.

Let’s hope that this comeback is a sign of things to come, as the team is playing better ball, and needs to keep getting better to get back in the AL Central race.