CLEVELAND, Ohio – Aaron Civale’s allergies wore him down during the Indians’ two-game stop in St. Louis Tuesday and Wednesday to play the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. His watery eyes and all that sneezing had an advantage.
Civale watched as 39-year-old Adam Wainwright did his thing against his Indians’ teammates. Wainwright, who mostly turned in slow motion, worked seven fascinating innings in an 8-2 St. Louis win on Wednesday night. The Indians had no hit against Wainwright after the first inning and only one man reached base.
Friday night Civale still felt exhausted as he faced Seattle. He had two things on his side. The lessons he learned from Wainwright and the crowd of 22,920 people who entered Progressive Field on Opening Day 2.0 because the ballpark was operating at 100% capacity for the first time since 2019.
“I watched Adam Wainwright closely the other day and saw him use his curveball,” said Civale. “I put a bit of that in my game tonight.”
Civale, who seems to have a seat for any day of the week, tossed his curve 25% of the time in Friday’s 7-0 win over Seattle. It was right behind his cut fastball at 27% and his four seam fastball at 27%. The result was the low-hit game of his career, a one-hitter through eight innings. He withdrew the last 22 Cardinals to face him before Blake Parker pitched the ninth.
“He found a rhythm,” said manager Terry Francona. “He threw an absurd number of punches.”
The last five thugs in Seattle’s lineup were all left-handed. They were placed there to disrupt Civales timing and because the Mariners have an abundance of left-handers. Left-handers came into play at .264 (39-for-148) against Civale, compared to 0.200 (29-for-145) for right-handed.
Those five left-handers, including former Indian first baseman Jake Bauer, went a combined 0-for-14. Jake Flaherty, who went two outs in the first, was the only hitter of the five to base against Civale.
“The game is about adapting and adapting every day and every year,” said Civale, who achieved a career of 11 strokes. “I included that in the game tonight. It went pretty well. It may not always be the case, but I had a pretty good feel for it. “
Civale (9-2, 3:17) didn’t argue with Francona when he knocked him out after eight innings, despite having a complete shutout with one hit within reach.
“To be honest, I think I was pretty gassed back then,” said Civale, who tied for the MLB lead in victories with Julio Urias of the Dodgers. “I’ve done this a couple of times (gone into ninth with a shutout). I’m 0-for-2 on shutouts and didn’t want to go 0-for-3, not for it to happen. I think I left everything out there. “
Civale said he tapped into the largest crowd in India since 2019 to give him an adrenaline rush whenever he needed it.
“The energy was great,” said Civale. “I felt that several times on the hill. There have been several instances where I’ve used this as extra adrenaline.
“That has been missing from this game in recent years. It’s really nice to have that again. Greetings to the fans here. That’s what we play for. “
First baseman Bobby Bradley was also in the crowd.
“It was great,” said Bradley. “As soon as we were outside, the fans cheered. It got the adrenaline going. “
Like Civale, Bradley gave the crowd something to cheer about. He drew a base-laden walk to bring home a run in the first run. He started the third with a homer and isolated Amed Rosario in the sixth. Bradley hits .462 (6-for-13) with two homers and six RBI since he was recalled from Class AAA Columbus on June 5.
“You always want to play well at home, especially at full capacity,” said Bradley. “Especially after last year, a year and a half that we had. It was pretty tough. It’s just nice to get back to normal. “
A variety of Cleveland Indians face masks are available online today. (Fanatics.com)
New Indian face masks for sale: Shop for Cleveland Indians-themed face covers for coronavirus protection here, including a single mask ($ 14.99) and a 3-pack ($ 24.99). All MLB proceeds are donated to charity.
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