First homer at Progressive Park!! :)

Chris had one of his best nights in an Indians jersey Friday night! He went 2-for-4 with an RBI double, 3-RBI homerun, and a walk! He had a career high 4 RBI's and because he hasn't had that many at bats, he also raised his average 40 points! This homerun was also the first homerun he has ever hit at Progressive Field. They estimate that he hit it 427 feet!! Woo hoo! Attached is a great article about last night's game.


Three three-run shots power Tribe past KC - LaPorta, Gimenez, Nix lead offensive explosion for Cleveland
By Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com
08/27/10 11:24 PM E

CLEVELAND -- This was a night for exorcising the offensive demons.

The Indians hadn't done much at the plate since leaving Kansas City last week. In six games against the Tigers and A's, they scored seven runs total.

But on Friday night at Progressive Field, with the Royals in town, the Tribe exploded on the offensive end. A six-run second inning highlighted a 15-4 rout of the Royals in front of 17,631 fans.

Matt LaPorta, Chris Gimenez and Jayson Nix each ripped a three-run home run. LaPorta's second-inning blast set the tone, but the Indians didn't stop there.

"We had a quick start, and it just never stopped," Nix said. "It was a fun game."

The Indians were certainly due for some fun at the plate, and a date with Bryan Bullington, who had a brief tenure with the Tribe back in '08, was good for what was ailing them.

LaPorta got things going with one out in the second. Travis Hafner had singled and Nix had doubled off Bullington. LaPorta had hit what turned out to be the game-winning homer Thursday night to snap a 4-for-44 funk, and when he connected on Bullington's 0-2 slider for a three-run shot to the left-field porch, he proved that blast had not been a fluke.

"I didn't get it where it needed to be," Bullington said.

Yet while the home run gave the Indians a 3-0 lead, it also could have had the effect of ending the little rally. But Jason Donald immediately got another one started with a single, and Gimenez doubled him home.

"You want to continue to pile on," Donald said. "It's such a cliché, but you want to keep piling on and piling on, and you have to continue to be aggressive. We had a good game plan going in tonight, and everybody went out and executed."

Michael Brantley kept it going by ripping a single to score Gimenez and, one out later, Shin-Soo Choo singled to score Brantley and cap the six-run outburst.

That early backing in his back pocket, right-hander Josh Tomlin, in just his sixth Major League start, had some room for error. As it turned out, he needed it, because Tomlin was not particularly efficient on this night.

Tomlin needed 92 pitches to get through five innings of work, and he let the Royals back in it with a three-spot in the fourth. Wilson Betemit's leadoff homer got the Royals on the board, and a walk from Alex Gordon and a double from Willie Bloomquist set up RBI singles from Yuniesky Betancourt and Gregor Blanco to make it 6-3.

"Josh didn't have his best command," manager Manny Acta said of Tomlin. "He walked more guys than he usually does in a week. But he was still able to give us five innings."

As if to prove to Tomlin that he had nothing to fear, the Indians answered right back with another run in the bottom of the fourth. Choo doubled with two out, and, after Bullington intentionally walked Hafner, Nix ripped his second double of the game to score Choo and make it 7-3.

Tomlin was gone after the fifth, but the Indians made it a full-on blowout in the bottom of that inning, when the Royals turned to reliever Kanekoa Texeira. LaPorta walked, Donald singled and Gimenez connected on his first homer of the season, a towering 427-foot shot to center.

Gimenez's four RBIs tied a single-game career-high and doubled his season output, to date.

"He's got big, strong arms," Acta said of Gimenez. "He's a strong kid. He's not getting enough at-bats to judge [his performance]. But he's got some power."

By then, it was 10-3, and the Indians could have waltzed home. But all that pent-up aggression over a week of offensive inadequacy had to be released. And a five-run eighth against relievers Greg Holland and Dusty Hughes finished the job.

Nix launched a three-run shot to the bleachers for his 11th homer, and the Indians went on to load the bases. In came Hughes, who gave up a sacrifice fly to Brantley and a one-run double to Asdrubal Cabrera to put the finishing touches on the Tribe's parade of runs.

"Needless to say, we swung the bat well," Acta said. "The long ball was the key. When you have three, three-run home runs, that really helps."