The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Lindor, Bruce develop bond
Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor and right fielder Jay Bruce sat at the lead table in the interview room, taking questions from reporters on Sept. 17 before the finale of a four-game series against the Kansas City Royals.
The pairing made perfect sense, given the substantial contributions both are making to the team’s remarkable, late-season surge to the top of the American League standings.
Lindor has rallied from a midseason slump and is setting the tone for the Indians at the plate as leadoff hitter, in the field as a Gold Glove winner and in the clubhouse as an increasingly assertive leader.
The 23-year-old native of Puerto Rico and two-time AllStar is batting .278 with careerhigh totals of 30 home runs and 81 RBI.
In a September to remember for himself and his team, Lindor is batting .329 with five home runs and 15 RBI.
Indians playoff preview:
The Indians have won the AL Central Division title for a second straight year. This series offers profiles of the players who will play key roles in the postseason.
Bruce, obtained from the New York Mets on Aug. 9 in a non-waiver trade, has become a fixture in veteran manager Terry Francona’s everyday lineup. In 32 games with the Indians, the 30-yearold Texan is batting .261 with five home runs and 20 RBI.
Overall this season, Bruce is batting .257 with 34 home runs and 95 RBI. His consistent production has minimized the impact of losing All-Star outfielder Michael Brantley to an apparently serious ankle injury that landed him on the disabled list in early August.
Lindor and Bruce also were brought front-andcenter because of the pivotal roles they had played three days earlier in the 3-2 victory over Kansas City. The win extended the Indians’ string on consecutive wins to 22, the longest streak in American League history.
In the bottom of the ninth with two outs, the Royals clinging to a 2-1 lead and the Indians down to their last strike, Lindor ripped a double off the wall in left field that drove home pinch runner Eric Gonzalez with the tying run that forced extra innings.
In the bottom of the 10th, after Indians second baseman and Most Valuable Player candidate Jose Ramirez turned a single into a hustle double, Bruce laced a double into the right-field corner that sent home Ramirez with the winning run.
Mobbed by joyous teammates in the center of the diamond, Bruce emerged from the celebratory scrum with an ear-to-ear smile on his face and his uniform top nowhere to be seen.
“They ripped it right off my back. Popped all the buttons,” Bruce said the next day, again smiling.
Bruce stayed hot at the plate on Sept. 19 as the Indians posted a 6-3 road victory over the Los Angeles Angels in the opener of a three-game series, giving them a 34-6 record since he joined the team.
He was 3-for-4 with a double, triple, RBI and run scored.
On repeated occasions since joining the Indians, Bruce has spoken about how blessed he feels to have been sent from a team going nowhere this season to one with aspirations of winning the World Series after coming so tantalizingly close to doing so last season.
“The transition for me has been seamless,” Bruce said. “These guys welcomed me with open arms. It’s been easy. It’s like I’ve been here all year.”
Lindor and other core players on the Indians have gone out of their way to sing the praises of Bruce.
“I’ve been telling everybody, it feels like I’ve played with him for three years already,” Lindor said. “That’s the type of person and teammate he is. He has fit perfectly with us.