Trevor Bauer is piling up the strikeouts. And Saquon Barkley Jersey Youth , the Cleveland Indians are piling up the wins.
Bauer (7-5) struck out 11 over 6 1/3 innings to beat Detroit for the fourth time this season, leading Cleveland past the Tigers 4-1 on Saturday night for their sixth straight win overall.
The right-hander recorded his seventh double-figure strikeout game of the season, including five of his last six starts. Bauer has struck out 140 this season and is tied for the AL lead with Boston’s Chris Sale.
”I definitely take pride in it,” Bauer said. ”It’s what I enjoy doing most, punching guys out.”
Bauer’s consecutive games with double-digit strikeouts was interrupted Monday by a rain delay after he struck out eight in seven innings against the Chicago White Sox. He threw 100 pitches and didn’t return after the delay.
”I wish it hadn’t rained last game,” he said. ”It would have been six in a row, but I’ll start a new streak this time.”
Bauer allowed a run in the second inning on a wild pitch and was pulled after Dixon Machado’s one-out single in the seventh. He’s 4-0 with a 1.23 ERA in four starts against the Tigers.
”He’s got quality pitches across the board,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. ”That’s part of what’s making him so good.”
Francisco Lindor hit a leadoff homer in the fifth, and Jose Ramirez – who reached base in his 30th consecutive game – and Edwin Encarnacion had RBI singles in a three-run first.
Cody Allen struck out two in a perfect ninth for his 16th save in 17 opportunities.
Francisco Liriano (3-3), making his first start in a month, allowed three runs – two earned – in four innings. The left-hander, who strained his right hamstring against the White Sox on May 26, threw 40 pitches in the first.
”He was rushing and after the first inning we told him you got to slow down,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. ”Just make your pitches and don’t overthrow the ball. We had a chance to get out of there and we cost him some extra pitches in the first.”
Detroit lost its fourth straight and committed three errors. Catcher James McCann dropped a throw from center field that allowed a run to score in the first.
Bauer struck out the game’s first two hitters, but a walk Ty Montgomery Packers Jersey , single and a hit by pitch loaded the bases. McCann struck out, ending the 28-pitch inning. Bauer allowed five hits, walked two, hit two batters and threw 112 pitches.
Cleveland’s first consisted of four hits, two walks, two wild pitches and McCann’s error. Ramirez singled in the first to score Lindor. Encarnacion followed with another single for a 2-0 lead.
Following a wild pitch, Brandon Guyer singled to center. Encarnacion would have been out by 10 feet, but scored on a slide when McCann couldn’t hang on to Leyonis Martin’s throw.
Liriano made his first start since straining his right hamstring against the Chicago White Sox on May 26.
Oliver Perez retired the final two batters in the seventh and Neil Ramirez worked a scoreless eighth.
CAUTIOUS APPROACH
The Indians aren’t going to rush left-hander Andrew Miller to come back from his sore right knee, an injury that has had him on the disabled list since May 26. He won’t throw off a mound for 10 days and there’s no timetable for his return.
”We saw the load he carried a couple years ago,” Francona said. ”For us to get where we want to go, and have the best chance to do that, he’s going to carry a big load. So we feel like being patient is the best chance to get there.”
BUT WHO’S COUNTING?
The first inning lasted 36 minutes and included five hits, three walks, a hit batter, two wild pitches Mitchell Trubisky Bears Jersey , an error, nine baserunners and a combined 68 pitches.
QUICK CHANGE
Detroit started the week with a five-game winning streak, but lost twice in Cincinnati and has dropped the first two games of this series.
”You look at Cincinnati, they’re hot,” Gardenhire said. ”We come in here and this team is hot. It’s all part of the schedule. Right now, we are scuffling offensively and it all kind of molds together.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Tigers: RHP Johnny Barbato (rotator cuff tendinitis) is on the 10-day disabled list. He allowed five runs in one-third of an inning Friday.
Indians: RHP Carlos Carrasco (bruised elbow) is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Monday. He was struck on the elbow by a line drive hit by Minnesota’s Joe Mauer on June 16.
UP NEXT
Tigers: LHP Matthew Boyd (4-5, 3.63 ERA) is 1-2 with a 1.78 ERA in six career appearances – five starts – against Cleveland.
Indians: RHP Adam Plutko (3-1, 5.40) will make his fifth career start for Cleveland.
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Here were the two primary goals for the Miami Heat on the final night of the regular season: Beat the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, and get Wayne Ellington into the team record book.
Done, and done.
Ellington scored a career-high 32 points while setting Miami’s single-season record for 3-pointers, and the Heat wrapped up the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs by beating the Toronto Raptors 116-109 in overtime Wednesday night.
”It’s just absolutely fitting that it would come down to an overtime game with this group,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. ”It was a heck of a regular season. Now we’re on to the second act.”
That starts this weekend, when the Heat go to Philadelphia and take on the third-seeded 76ers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
Kelly Olynyk, Dwyane Wade, Justise Winslow Joe Montana Jersey , James Johnson and Tyler Johnson each scored 11 points for the Heat, who got 10 each from Hassan Whiteside and Bam Adebayo.
Ellington needed six 3s to beat the record of 225 that Damon Jones set in the 2004-05 season. He finished the season with 227, and now gets to go to his hometown to start the postseason.
”A big-time overtime win,” Ellington said. ”We feel like if you put us up against anybody in seven games, we can beat them. That’s the kind of team we feel like we are. It’s going to be a dogfight no matter what.”
Kyle Lowry scored 28 points for Toronto, which already had the top seed in the East wrapped up – but played its regulars in this one anyway. The Raptors will meet No. 8 Washington in the first round.
DeMar DeRozan had 19 points, Jakob Poeltl had 16 and Jonas Valanciunas scored 12 for the Raptors, who were outscored 11-4 in overtime.
”We had a goal set out that we would win 60 games before these 82 were up,” DeRozan said. ”That didn’t happen. Time to clear that. None of that matters now. Get ready for this weekend.”
Even with nothing standings-wise to play for, the Raptors had no qualms about using their starters. Lowry, DeRozan, Valanciunas and Serge Ibaka combined to play more than 120 minutes.
The Raptors were 22-60 in 2010-11, the season before coach Dwane Casey came to Toronto. They ended this season 59-23.
”It’s taken us a while to build our program, to get it where it is,” said Casey Eli Manning Giants Jersey , a coach of the year candidate this season. ”This (Heat) program has multiple championships and we’re trying to get to that level organically. And it takes time. You’re just not going to wave a magic wand and turn a player into Magic Johnson or Larry Bird or anybody like that. It’s part of the process, and that’s something I know our organization is proud of.”
Ellington’s 3-pointer with 18.8 seconds left in regulation put Miami up two, and Poeltl tied it with a tip-in. But Miami scored the first five points of the extra session and didn’t look back.
A year ago on the last night of the season, the Heat were left teary-eyed and with a sour taste in their mouths after missing the playoffs.
This time, Wade and Udonis Haslem toasted each other with flutes of fancy champagne to celebrate their 15th NBA season.
”It really means something, every time you complete a season especially as you get up there,” Wade said. ”So both of us are a little tipsy.”
TIP-INS
Raptors: Key reserve Fred VanVleet left with 1:32 remaining in regulation after apparently getting hurt while trying to fight through a screen. He stayed down for several seconds near the Toronto bench before getting helped off the floor. … Toronto went 25-16 on the road, and 40-12 against East opponents.
Heat: All-Star point guard Goran Dragic missed the game with soreness in his right knee. The Heat are not concerned about his availability for Game 1 of the playoffs. … Miami finished 26-15 at home.
FIORENTINO HONORED
Tony Fiorentino, one of the Heat original employees who started as an assistant coach in the team’s inaugural season 30 years ago before transitioning to broadcasting, was honored in a halftime ceremony. Fiorentino has spent the last 15 season as the Heat television analyst, and will assume a team-ambassador position when Miami’s playoff run ends.
SIZZLING POELTL
To say Poeltl is going into the postseason on a hot streak is an understatement. Poeltl ended the regular season having made 34 of his last 39 shots in the final eight games. Poeltl is also the only Raptors player who appeared in all 82 regular-season contests.
UP NEXT
Raptors: Face Washington in Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
Heat: Face Philadelphia in Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
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