Field Level Media
Aug 14, 2018
Corey Kluber cruised to his MLB co-leading 15th victory and Jose Ramirez hit his 36th homer as the Cleveland Indians rolled past the host Cincinnati Reds 8-1 on Tuesday night at Great American Ball Park.
Kluber (15-6) pitched seven innings of one-run ball, allowing five hits and two walks, while striking out seven. He is now tied with Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer and New York Yankees right-hander Luis Severino for the major-league lead in wins.
Meanwhile, Ramirez continued to torment the Reds this season, going 3-for-5 with a solo homer, two RBIs and three runs scored. In the five games against Cincinnati this year, Ramirez is 10-for-23 with five homers and 11 RBIs.
Cleveland leads the Ohio Cup series 3-2 with the finale on Wednesday.
The Indians jumped on Reds starter Sal Romano (7-10) from the get-go, scoring four runs in the top of the first.
Cleveland's first five batters reached, starting with Francisco Lindor's leadoff single. Michael Brantley followed with a walk, Ramirez plated Lindor with an RBI single and moved to second on the outfield throw, and Yonder Alonso's two-run single scored Brantley and Ramirez for a 3-0 lead.
Alonso scored two batters later on Yan Gomes' fielder's choice groundout on which Reds third baseman Eugenio Suarez made a diving play to his right before popping up and throwing out Gomes at first for the second out.
The Indians added two more runs in the second -- on an Alonso sacrifice fly and Melky Cabrera RBI single -- chasing Romano with two outs. The Reds right-hander allowed six runs on seven hits and two walks over 1 2/3 innings, while striking out just one.
The Indians made it 7-0 in the fifth when they loaded the bases with no outs -- on a Cabrera single and two walks -- but managed to score just one run on Greg Allen's double-play groundout to second.
Ramirez made it 8-0 in the sixth with his 36th homer, a towering solo shot to right field off reliever Michael Lorenzen.
The Reds scored their lone run in the bottom of the seventh when Tucker Barnhart tripled into the right-field corner and crossed the plate on Preston Tucker's RBI single.
--Field Level Media