*Photo from the Akron Beacon-Journal*
With the Cleveland Indians all but eliminated from playoff contention as the regular season winds down, they were looking to spoil the fun for the New York Yankees this weekend. You can say that they did just that. Jose Ramirez drove in 3 runs, Harold Ramirez drove in 4, and the Indians routed the Yankees out of their own ballpark, winning 11-1 on Sunday afternoon.
Despite having a big day at the plate, Ramirez was removed from the game in the 3rd inning, after crashing into the right field wall at Yankee stadium while trying to rob a home run, which was unsuccessful. Ramirez crashed into the wall shoulder first, which led to a lot of pain after the fact.
Indians acting manager DeMarlo Hale said of his injury that "It was kind of a precaution taking him out, because he tried to throw and he said, ‘I could throw, but I don’t know if I could cut it loose.' I didn’t want anything major to happen. He hit that wall pretty good. So just taking care of these players when we can."
Harold got the day started for the Indians in the first, hitting a two run single to give the Indians a 2-0 lead on the Yankees early. In the top of the 3rd, Harold added another two run single, and Roberto Perez hit an RBI single, and it became 5-0 Indians. In the bottom of the 3rd, Gio Urshela homered to right field, getting the Yankees on the board to trim it to 5-1. It was after that point that the floodgates opened.
In the 5th inning, it was Jose that hit a solo home run, increasing the lead to 6-1 halfway through the game. In the 6th, Perez made it 7-1 with a solo home run of his own. In the 7th, Yu Chang hit an RBI single to center field, increasing the lead to 7 runs. In the 8th, Jose hit a two run single, which made it double digit runs and a 10-1 lead. In the 9th, Chang scored on a fielders choice to make it 11-1.
Eli Morgan turned in a quality start for the Indians, getting the win to improve to 3-7 this season. Morgan allowed just one run on 6 hits, walking no one and striking out 3 hitters in 6 innings pitched. After he departed, the bullpen combo of Trevor Stephan, Blake Parker, and Sam Hentges shut out the Yankees to close the game out.
The Yankees have been in a major tailspin since winning 13 straight games in August, as they've lost 15 of 22 games since that winning streak. 9 of those 15 losses have come against teams with a sub .500 record, including a series loss to the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees also trail the Toronto Blue Jays by 1 1/2 games for the second wild card spot, and the Boston Red Sox 2 1/2 games for the top wild card spot.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of getting routed at home that "We’ve got to get better in a hurry, period. That wasn’t good enough today. The important thing to remember is that we’re not far off from where we were a couple of weeks ago when we were running them off, but we’ve got to do better than this. That’s an awful couple of days out there."
Gerrit Cole was charged with the loss for the Yankees in one of the worst starts of his career, falling to 15-8 this season. Cole allowed 7 runs on 10 hits and one walk, while still racking up 7 punchouts across 5 2/3 innings pitched. Lucas Luetge, who pitched 1 1/3 relief innings, was responsible for one run, and Clarke Schmidt gave up 3 runs across two innings of relief.
The Indians play a doubleheader with the division rival Kansas City Royals on Monday, with Triston McKenzie starting the first game of the doubleheader, and no announced starter for game two yet. The Yankees welcome the Texas Rangers into town on Monday, with Nestor Cortes Jr taking the mound as he starts.
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