Indians Confidential

The road to Texas has not been an easy one in years past for the Indians, but Monday night they used the long ball along with a good outing from pen to top the first place Rangers 8-3.

Not all went well though for the Tribe, as first basemen Matt LaPorta, who has been hitting well since his return from Triple-A, left the game after getting elbowed in the head playing first.

All LaPorta had done to that point was walked and scored in his first at-bat, then in the third hit a two-run bomb, his 5th of the year, to give the Indians a 4-0 lead.

“He was actually feeling nausea and he threw up a little bit too,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “It was a no-brainer to take him out of the game.”

LaPorta was taken to a hospital for a precautionary CT scan. LaPorta suffered a concussion when he was hit in the head by a pitch while playing for Team USA in the 2008 Olympics, and the Indians didn’t want to take any chances with one of their top young players, and right now, maybe their best offensive threat.

His teammates picked him up though, as Carlos Santana hit a second deck homer, and recent pickup Jayson Nix hit two bombs in the five-run win.

Nix did it in front of family and friends, as was born and still lives in Dallas in the offseason. “It’s a special night,” said Nix, who had 15 family members and friends at the game. “It’s great to be here at home and playing here. To be able to do that in front of them is special.”

Laffey had a 6-2 lead, but could only go 4.1 innings, and gave way to the pen. Sinkerballer Joe Smith got the win to move to 1-1, he allowed two hits in 1 2-3 innings of scoreless relief for his first major league victory.

The Indians are now 16 games under .500, not bad considering it was just over a week ago they were a season high 21 games under the .500 mark.

Tuesday night their series in Texas will continue, as they play the Rangers once again.