Indians series recap: Tigers take series but Tribe shows promise
By Chad Porto
The Indians began the season with a three-game set in Detroit, and then will return to Cleveland on Monday to have their own Home Opener with the Tigers, returning the favor. Though favor is loosely used, as Detroit did no favors for the Indians when they took the series 2-1.
The Tigers are not a strong team on paper, and it seemed pretty likely that the Tribe would take two games at least, if not sweep the series. This, despite the thought that Terry Francona-led Indians teams didn’t get hot until June or July. So it’s not completely shocking to see the Indians struggle coming out the gate.
So what exactly did the series look like for both squads?
Series Recap
The Tigers didn’t really do much to win the first two games of the series. They scored eight runs through the first two games, (Indians just four), and were able to hold the Indians to just eight runs in the first four games, despite putting up 13 hits. The offense didn’t much come alive until the third game of the series, where Austin Hedges, Franmil Reyes, and Jordan Luplow all went yard on the Tigers pitching staff.
Before this only Eddie Rosario and Roberto Perez had gone yard. Now the team has five home runs on the young season.
Rosario has been an absolute stud so far through three games, and the bullpen has been fantastic, save for one bad outing from Nick Wittgren.
The Indians lost the series to the Tigers 2-1 but the Indians didn’t get blown out in any of the games they lost. So that’s encouraging.
"Game 1: 2-3 Game 2: 2-5 Game 3: 9-3"
The Tribe is now 1-2 on the season.