A SHOOTOUT ENDS THE STREAK

The Yankees bats finally broke out in a frenzy of hits, striking first with a 3-run home run off the bat of Brian McCann. In their first 5 at-bats, the scored more runs than in any Yankees 9-inning game over the last week. They scored more runs in the first inning than in any of the prior 63. Yeah, it's been that bad.

The scoring didn't stop in the first inning. Stephen Drew hit his 15th home run of the season in the top of the 2nd to put the Yankees up 4-0. Drew doubled in the loop of the 4th to score Didi Gregorius for the Yankees 5th run. Brett Gardner followed with a double to score Drew. In the 6th inning, again it was Gardner scoring Drew, this time on a base hit up the middle.

It's a good thing the Yankees kept scoring because the Indians kept scoring too. Down 4-0 in the bottom of the 2nd, Michael Brantley scored Giovanny Urshela on a sacrifice fly and Carlos Santana singled in Jose Ramirez to cut the lead in half. In the 6th inning, with the Yankees leading 7-2, back to back doubles by Yan Gomes and Abraham Almonte followed by a Lonnie Chisenhall single made it 7-4. They tacked on another run on a wild pitch by Dellin Betances. They were like those pesky midges that wouldn't go away. Yeah, I know. It is in Cleveland after all.

By the time we reached the bottom of the ninth, the Indians scored to make it 8-6 and to bring the tying run to the plate. Thankfully, Andrew Miller returned to form after his last outing. Miller Time got his 25th save on a called third strike, ending the Yankees losing streak.

Results were mixed on Nathan Eovaldi. He improved to 12-2 as he recorded his 6th consecutive win on the road. He did a decent job but reached 100 pitches in the 6th inning. Honorable mention goes to Brian McCann, who hit his 20th home run of the season. He, Yogi Berra, and Mike Piazza are the only catchers to have done it 8 or more consecutive years now. Honorable mention goes to Stephen Drew - mark the day in the calendar - for scoring four times tonight. That's a career high for him.

Finally, Greg Bird got his major league debut tonight. It was a little less momentous than he or the rest of us hoped. He went 0 for 5 with 2 strikeouts leaving four men on base, one of them in scoring position. Still, he's up and that's a sign that the future is on its way.

So, hopefully, this marks the end of the dark times. The Yankees are a very good team, and this could turn the page for them. The Blue Jays also won tonight, so the Yankees are still a half game out of first. But they're still one ahead of them in the loss column.

Final: Yankees 8 - Indians 6

--Ike Dimitriadis, BYB Senior Staff Writer
Twitter: @KingAgamemnon
My blog is: Shots from Murderer's Row






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