Written by Jonathan Knight

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SPOILERS AGAIN: The Tribe’s surprising series victory in Chicago last week evoked memories of the conclusion of the 2008 season, when the visiting Indians took two of three from the contending White Sox in the final weekend, forcing Chicago into a one-game playoff with Minnesota for the AL Central title.

PAR FOR THE COURSE: Continuing a season-long trend, despite hitting .305 as a team in the Chicago series, the Indians still only managed to hit .160 (4 for 25) with runners in scoring position.

ROYAL FLUSH: After sweeping their first series in K.C. in April, the Indians have lost nine of their last 11 games against the Royals.

ALL-TIME TOTALS: The Indians’ all-time record against the Royals dipped to 301-287, while their mark against the White Sox jumped to 999-1,044.

FREE RUNNING: The Indians and White Sox combined to throw out seven baserunners in this week’s series. The Indians also had one runner picked off. The teams did combine to successfully steal six bases in the series.

END OF A RUN: Last weekend the Royals guaranteed the Indians wouldn’t take the season series from them for the first time since 2003.

RAGE’S BEST: Tuesday’s save gave Chris Perez 37 for the season, setting a new career-high. He pushed it to 38 on Wednesday, making it the eighth-best single season for a Tribe closer. 

SLAMMIN’ SANTANA: Carlos Santana’s offensive display on Sunday was his the second five-RBI game of his career (August 2011 against Texas) but the fourth three-hit game of the month. For September, Santana is now batting .330 with five homers and 19 RBI. Over that stretch, he’s raised his season batting average from .245 to .260.

OUTSCORING THE BROWNS: Sunday marked the first time the Indians outscored the Browns in the same day since Sept. 27, 2009, when the Tribe trounced Orioles 9-0 while the Browns were throttled by the Ravens, 34-3.

QUALITY KLUBER: Corey Kluber has now tallied more quality starts for the season than Jeanmar Gomez, in five less starts.

STILL WINNING THE CLOSE ONES: The Indians are now 23-11 in one-run games this season.

A VERY WEAK SILVER LINING: Sunday’s victory guaranteed the Indians would not lose 100 games for the 21st consecutive season.

DUNN LIKE DISHES: Chicago’s Adam Dunn has lit up the Indians in 2012, hitting five homers and two doubles with 10 RBI while scoring 11 runs in only 53 at-bats.

BRIDGING A QUARTER-CENTURY GAP: With his latest defeat on Saturday in Kansas City, Ubaldo Jimenez became the first Indians’ pitcher to lose 17 games in a season since Tom Candiotti lost 18 in 1987.

NOT MUCH MAC ATTACK: Zach McAllister has not picked up a victory in his last eight starts. The Indians lost seven of those eight games, with McAllister taking the loss in four of them.

LIGHTING UP THE BOARD: Sunday’s 15-run outburst was the Indians’ largest output in a game this season and their best showing since May of 2011 when it tallied 19 runs, also in Kansas City.

PESTANO POUNDED: In his one disastrous inning of work in Monday night’s defeat in Chicago, Vinnie Pestano permitted 17% of all of the earned runs scored upon him all season.

HERRMANN’S NO HERMIT: Frank Herrmann has been almost unstoppable in September, allowing only one earned run in 11 innings pitched. He’s only walked one batter this month and has struck out eight.

SURPRISINGLY SUNNY SUNDAYS: The win on Sunday marked the first time this season the Indians won on back-to-back Sundays since April 29/May 6. Their record on Sundays this season is 8-17.

THREE AND OUT: Thursday marked just the 16th time this season the Indians won a game in which their opponent scored more than three runs. They now stand at 16-81 on the year in these games.

A YEAR AGO: After 156 games in 2011, the Indians stood at 78-78, second place in the AL Central, 12.5 games behind Detroit.

 

PROGRESS REPORT: 

The Indians are averaging 4.06 runs per game and allowing 5.17.

Runs scored: 634 (13th in AL)

Batting average: .250 (9th in AL)

Slugging percentage: .382 (13th in AL)

On-base percentage: .322 (6th in AL)

OPS average: .705 (13th in AL)

Walks: 530 (3rd in AL)

Stolen bases: 105 (7th in AL)

Strikeouts: 1,027 (3rd-fewest in AL)

With runners in scoring position: .235 (305 for 1,298)

 

Runs allowed: 807 (2nd-most in AL)

Team ERA: 4.80 (13th in AL)

Walks allowed: 525 (2nd-fewest in AL)

Strikeouts: 1,039 (2nd-fewest in AL)

Opponents with runners in scoring position: .286 (407 for 1,422)

Errors: 91 (6th-fewest in AL)

 

STARTING PITCHERS:

46-75, 5.27 ERA

(883.1 IP, 517 ER)

 

RELIEF PITCHERS:

19-16, 42 saves, 9 blown saves, 3.90 ERA

(491 IP, 213 ER)

 

INDIANS’ OVERALL RECORD IN GAMES STARTED BY:

Masterson 14-19 (17 quality starts)

Jimenez 12-19 (13 quality starts)

Lowe 9-12 (13 quality starts)

McAllister 9-12 (10 quality starts)

Tomlin 8-8 (7 quality starts)

Gomez 8-8 (4 quality starts)

Kluber 3-8 (5 quality starts)

Huff 1-1 (0 quality starts)

Seddon 0-2 (1 quality start)

Hernandez 0-3 (0 quality starts)

 

INDIANS’ RECORD WHEN GETTING QUALITY START: 50-20

INDIANS’ RECORD WHEN NOT GETTING QUALITY START: 15-71

 

INDIANS’ RECORD BY UNIFORM:

White Script “Indians”: 18-20

Blue Script “Indians”: 19-27

Gray Block “Cleveland”: 18-28

Creamy white home alternate: 10-16

 

INDIANS’ RECORD BY CAP:

Chief Wahoo Cap: 36-47

Block C Blue Cap: 18-28

Block C Red Cap: 9-16

Red, White & Blue Block C Red Cap: 1-0

Silver Chief Wahoo Cap: 1-0

 

INDIANS’ RECORD BY DAY OF THE WEEK:

Sunday: 8-17

Monday: 9-8

Tuesday: 10-13

Wednesday: 9-15

Thursday: 11-7

Friday: 10-14

Saturday: 8-17

 

ATTENDANCE WATCH: The Indians are averaging 20,142 fans per home game - 13th in the AL.

 

KANSAS CITY SERIES BY THE NUMBERS:

The Indians outscored the Royals, 21-15. The Royals committed four errors and the Indians committed one. One of the Indians’ runs was unearned.

 

Overall Hitting

Cleveland 36 for 113 (.319), 14 walks, 1 HBP (.398 on-base percentage)

Kansas City 26 for 94 (.277), 7 walks, 3 HBP, 3 SF (.337 on-base percentage)

 

With Runners in Scoring Position

Cleveland 9 for 25 (.360), 27 left on base

Kansas City 7 for 27 (.259), 19 left on base

 

Extra-Base Hits

Cleveland 6 (3 HR)

Kansas City 8 (1 HR)

 

Stolen Bases

Cleveland 3

Kansas City 3 (2 caught stealing)

 

Overall Pitching

Cleveland 25 IP, 26 H, 7 BB, 10 SO, 15 ER, 5.40 ERA

Kansas City 27 IP, 36 H, 14 BB, 16 SO, 20 ER, 6.67 ERA

 

Starting Pitchers

Cleveland 1-2; 16 IP, 17 H, 6 BB, 7 SO, 14 ER, 7.88 ERA

Kansas City 2-1; 18.1 IP, 22 H, 5 BB, 11 SO, 7 ER, 3.44 ERA

 

Relief Pitchers

Cleveland 9 IP, 9 H, 1 BB, 3 SO, 5 ER, 5.00 ERA 

Kansas City 2 saves; 8.2 IP, 14 H, 9 BB, 5 SO, 13 ER, 13.50 ERA

 

CHICAGO SERIES BY THE NUMBERS:

The Indians outscored the White Sox, 14-12. The Indians committed two errors and the White Sox committed one. All of the runs scored in the series were earned.

 

Overall Hitting

Cleveland 32 for 105 (.305), 17 walks (.402 on-base percentage)

Chicago 21 for 92 (.228), 14 walks, 1 SF (.327 on-base percentage)

 

With Runners in Scoring Position

Cleveland 4 for 25 (.160), 27 left on base 

Chicago 5 for 23 (.217), 18 left on base

 

Extra-Base Hits

Cleveland 10 (3 HR)

Chicago 8 (5 HR)

 

Stolen Bases

Cleveland 3 (3 caught stealing, 1 pickoff)

Chicago 3 (4 caught stealing)

 

Overall Pitching

Cleveland 26 IP, 21 H, 14 BB, 20 SO, 12 ER, 4.15 ERA

Chicago 27 IP, 32 H, 17 BB, 22 SO, 14 ER, 4.67 ERA

 

Starting Pitchers

Cleveland 1-0; 17.2 IP, 15 H, 9 BB, 13 SO, 8 ER, 4.07 ERA

Chicago 0-1; 14 IP, 22 H, 8 BB, 10 SO, 10 ER, 6.43 ERA

 

Relief Pitchers

Cleveland 1-1, 1 blown save, 2 saves; 8.1 IP, 6 H, 5 BB, 7 SO, 4 ER, 4.32 ERA 

Chicago 1-1, 1 save; 13 IP, 10 H, 9 BB, 12 SO, 4 ER, 2.77 ERA

 

UP NEXT: 

Kansas City Royals [70-86]

(Friday 7:05 p.m.; Saturday 7:05 p.m.; Sunday 1:05 p.m.)

Last year: Indians won season series, 12-6

This year: Royals lead season series, 9-6

 

Chicago White Sox [82-73]

(Monday 7:05 p.m.; Tuesday 7:05 p.m.; Wednesday 7:05 p.m.)

Last year: White Sox won season series, 11-7

This year: White Sox lead season series, 9-6

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