Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Cleveland 5, Cincinnati 2
When: 1:10 PM ET, Sunday, May 24, 2015
Where: Progressive Field, Cleveland, Ohio
Temperature: 79°
Umpires: Home - Paul Schrieber, 1B - Jim Reynolds, 2B - Manny Gonzalez, 3B - Sean Barber
Attendance: 23882

CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Indians won six games in a row and their starting pitching is the biggest reason.

Sunday at Progressive Field, right-hander Trevor Bauer became the latest Indians starter to excel, pitching into the eighth inning, while Cleveland took advantage of three Cincinnati to complete a three game sweep by beating the Reds 5-2.

Two of Cleveland's five runs were unearned, thanks to an uncharacteristic three Cincinnati errors. The Reds came into the game with 17 errors, the fewest in the major leagues.

The win extends the Indians' winning streak to six games while the Reds have lost eight in a row, their longest losing streak since 2009.

Bauer (4-1) pitched 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run on five hits with four strikeouts and no walks.

In the Indians' last seven games, the starting pitchers are 6-0 with a 1.42 ERA. In the last 14 games the starters have a 2.57 ERA with 111 strikeouts and 15 walks in 94 innings.

"When your starters are pitching well, it settles everything down," said Indians manager Terry Francona. "They've done really well."

In his last three starts, Bauer is 2-0 with a 1.23 ERA. Bauer said he was most proud about not walking any of the 29 batters he faced against the Reds.

"I'm glad I didn't create more problems for myself by walking anyone," he said. "I think it was a combination of me throwing strikes and their hitters being very aggressive."

It was a dismal weekend in Cleveland for the Reds, who were unable to produce a win for the many fans that made the four-hour drive from Cincinnati.

"We saved our worst game for when we needed our best game," said Reds manager Bryan Price. "This was our worst game of the series, the worst game of the road trip and the worst of the season. I apologize to all our fans who made the drive here. That was brutal. We have far too much talent to play like that."

The Indians took a 2-0 lead in the third inning vs. right-hander Raisel Iglesias.

First baseman Carlos Santana led off with a double. Center fielder Michael Brantley struck out, but right fielder Brandon Moss drew a walk.

Left fielder David Murphy singled, scoring Santana with the first run of the game. The second run scored when second baseman Brandon Phillips booted a grounder hit by designated hitter Nick Swisher. The error allowed Moss to score and gave Cleveland a 2-0 lead.

The Reds had base runners in each of the first three innings against Bauer but were unable to score. Bauer then settled in and in the middle innings retired 12 men in a row at one point.

"I loved the fact that he didn't walk anyone," said Francona. "That and the way he's learned to hold runners really gives him a chance to be successful because he's so hard to hit."

Iglesias was removed from the game after the third inning. He gave up two runs on four hits with six strikeouts and three walks.

"He's all about winning. He really competes, but his pitch count (84) got up there so we had to get him out of there after three innings," said Price.

The Indians, without getting a hit, scored two more runs, and Cincinnati committed two more errors, in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Catcher Yan Gomes, leading off the inning, reached base on an error by right-hander J.J. Hoover. Third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall grounded out, but shortstop Mike Aviles drew a walk. Second baseman Jason Kipnis also drew a walk, loading the bases with one out.

Santana popped out for the second out, but Brantley hit a sharp grounder to first baseman Joey Votto. Votto made a sprawling stop of the grounder, but his throw to first was out of reach for Hoover covering the bag. It went as an error on Votto. Gomes and Aviles both scored to give the Indians a 4-0 lead.

Cincinnati got a run back in the seventh inning on a solo home run by Marlon Byrd over the
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Cincinnati   Cleveland
Raisel Iglesias Player Trevor Bauer
Loss W/L Win
3.0 IP 7.2
6 Strikeouts 4
4 Hits 5
6.00 ERA 1.17
Hitting
Cincinnati   Cleveland
Kristopher Negron Player David Murphy
1 Hits 2
0 RBI 1
0 HR 0
2 TB 3
.333 Avg .500
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Cincinnati 6 1 12 .176 11 6 2 1 0 3
Cleveland 8 0 13 .229 29 8 3 7 1 1