It’s safe to say Terry Francona knows what he is doing. After all, the current Indians’ manager is a two-time World Series champion during his stint with the Boston Red Sox, who he found himself managing against Thursday night in Cleveland.
In the 5th inning, the Indians were hanging on to a tight 5-3 lead. 25-year-old right-handed pitcher Trevor Bauer had been pitching a decent game, considering he was up against one of the best offenses in baseball. But Francona had seen enough. He had his best relief pitcher poised and ready in the bullpen.
Since the Indians’ acquisition of Andrew Miller from the Yankees in the middle of the year, Francona has completely altered the meaning of having an elite reliever. In his tenure with the Yankees, Miller served primarily as the set-up man in the 8th inning. The year before that, he was their closer. But to limit Miller to one role in a Cleveland uniform would be unfair. For both him and Francona, it doesn’t matter what inning he’s used in. Instead, all that matters are the batters he would be facing at any given moment.
After all, why wouldn’t your best relief pitcher be used against your opponents best hitter?
And so, Francona turned to Miller with two outs in the 5th inning. From there he went on to pitch two full innings, walking one, giving up one hit and striking out four. Three of those four were in consecutive order as Miller struck out David Ortiz to end the 5th, and then Hanley Ramirez and Xander Boegaerts in the following inning before getting Jackie Bradley Jr. to pop up to end the 6th.
The Red Sox would go on to score one more run in the 8th to cut the lead to one, but that narrow lead was enough for the Cleveland Indians to secure Game One in the win column. In a best-of-five series, as is every Division Series, it’s crucial to win the first game. While the Indians did not get the quality starting pitching they were hoping for, home runs by Jason Kipnis, Roberto Perez, and Francisco Lindor in the third inning were enough.
For the Red Sox, 22-year-old rookie Andrew Benintendi swatted a solo shot in the top half of the 3rd. Sandy Leon hit one in the fifth, and Brock Holt followed up with one of his own in the 8th. Both teams finished the game with 10 hits.
