*Photo from Fox 8*
Zach Plesac almost had a no hitter. Then one pitch to JP Crawford changed everything. Plesac carried a no hitter into the 8th inning, Jose Ramirez and Franmil Reyes homered, and the Cleveland Indians defeated the Seattle Mariners with a 4-2 win Thursday night.
Plesac said that "I made a couple good pitches to J.P., and then my change, it was working for me all night so I felt comfortable throwing it. But I just kind of spun through instead of getting through and it kind of stayed over the plate, allowed him to get the bat on it."
Plesac threw 8 dominant innings, allowing just two hits, giving up a two run homer and walking 3 hitters in 8 innings. Plesac has had a strong last few starts, and was able to carry it over into this one as well, despite only recording two strikeouts. Emmanuel Clase and Bryan Shaw combined to finish off the Mariners in the 9th inning, with Shaw getting the save.
Cleveland manager Terry Francona said of Plesac's outing that "I thought he was obviously really good. First inning had a couple walks, pitched around it and then for about seven innings, man, was about as good as you can be, throwing all his pitches for strikes."
The Indians picked up two runs in the second, on a solo homer from Reyes and an RBI single from Jake Bauers. In the 3rd inning, Jose Ramirez hit a two run homer to make it a 4-0 lead. Seattle got both runs in the 8th, when Dylan Moore hit a two run homer. Seattle couldn't get anything more against Clase and Shaw in the 9th.
Despite the loss, Mariners top prospects Jarred Kelenic and Logan Gilbert made their major league debuts. Gilbert got the start and the loss, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits, striking out 5 hitters in 4 innings pitched. Kelenic hit leadoff, but had a quiet day at the plate, going 0-4 on the night.
Gilbert said of his first career start that "The curveball felt pretty good for the most part, dropping it in for strikes. And then with the slider, I was kind of feeling it out as I went. And I think I could have done a better job expanding the zone when I was ahead with two strikes. And then when I did need a strike, I might throw the one out of the zone that needed to be in the zone. So, just getting that feel for it. Some of them felt great. And some of them felt like it was just a little off."
Cleveland and Seattle battle again tonight, with Aaron Civale starting for Cleveland, and Chris Flexen starting for the Mariners.
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