Indians rookie Plutko settles down, tops Cubs
Adam Plutko was nervous. Not about his second major-league start, but about stepping to the plate.
Once that was over, everything fell into place.
Plutko carried a nohitter into the seventh inning and Andrew Miller provided stellar relief work, helping Cleveland beat the Cubs 1-0 at Wrigley Field on Wednesday night.
“We know when (Plutko) commands everything, he can be pretty good,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. “But on a night when he didn’t command real well, he still did pretty damn good.”
Plutko (2-0) was promoted from Triple-A Columbus to replace the struggling Josh Tomlin in Cleveland’s rotation. The right-hander issued each of his four walks in the first two innings, but settled down after a successful sacrifice in the third in his first plate appearance since he was a high school junior in 2009.
“I was really nervous to hit, and so as soon as I got that bunt down in the third, I felt like a lot more calm and everything was a lot better,” he said.
Plutko’s sacrifice set up Michael Brantley’s twoout RBI single, sending the AL Central leaders to their third win in four games. The Indians also completed a sweep of their two-game set versus Chicago in their first appearance at Wrigley since they lost the 2016 World Series.
Brantley extended his hitting streak to 12 games, and Rajai Davis contributed two hits and a leaping catch against the wall in center, robbing Addison Russell of a likely run- scoring hit in the second.
Chicago wasted a strong start by Jon Lester (4-2) in its second straight loss after taking three of four in Cincinnati. The lefty allowed six hits, struck out four and walked one while lowering his ERA to 2.37 in his 10th start this year.