>> a.j.: another battle by roberto perez, keeps falling down 0-2. last at-bat he fouled off five or six. a big base hit up the middle. something to be said for just putting the ball in play. making contact. not striking out on three pitches. make the pitcher work. >> kenny: castro, beckham, and that will do it for the indians. in the seventh. -their béarnaise sauce here is the best in town. [ soft piano music playing ]

mm, uh, what do you do for fun? -not this. ♪ -oh, what am i into? mostly progressive's name your price tool. helps people find coverage options based on their budget. flo has it, i want it, it's a whole thing, and she's right there. -yeah, she's my ride. this date's lame. he has pics of you on his phone. -they're very tasteful. there's gonna be 16 of us.phone. are you sure? the bus is down, but we've got a spot. head down to the light, take a right, follow coach kevin. let's go, guys! come on! sorry again that we're fully booked. this is the best we could do on such short notice. this is amazing. thank you so much. (announcer) treating others like we'd like to be treated... come on in, guys. check this out. (announcer) ...has always been our guiding principle. [flicker of lights] [hum of fan]

[sound of door opening] ♪ ♪ i'm not regular ♪ i will not give you regular ♪ ♪ [click, click, click] [click, click, click] [flicker of lights] ♪ i'm not regular ♪ i will not give you regular

>> kenny: we move to the eighth here in cleveland. kenny albert, a.j. pierzynski and j.p. morosi. third pitcher of the evening for the cleveland indians is 32-year-old righthander james white facing a pinch-hitter, john hicks batting for cabrera. swings at the first pitch, puig comes on to make the catch in r one night, a.j., our bass pro shops player profile. >> a.j.: hall of fame resume' miguel cabrera, four time batting champion and triple r t

one of those in my lifetime or in my career and be able to see that but almost 3,000 hits, 1700 r.b.i.'s, will eventually get to 500 home runs, more than likely. an incredible, incredible career. got a world series ring. pretty much done it all in major league baseball. >> kenny: first triple crown since yaz in 1967. the scene yesterday when carlia strem key threw out the first pitch to -- the scene yifrt when carl yastrzemski threw out the first pitch to his son. >> a.j.: when mike hit the home run he got a standing ovation from the crowd at fenway -- tough to do as a visitor at fenway park. >> kenny: a great moment when they shared the first pitch before the game last night.

allen, two out. >> a.j.: tough blood line to live up to like you with your dad and your family blood lines in the announcing business, broadcast business. your grandfather is a hall of fame baseball player and you go to the city where he played his entire career and what do you do your first game? you hit a home run. >> kenny: pretty cool. my grandfather ran a grocery store in brooklyn. >> a.j.: i think your father has done ok. your brother has done all right in the broadcasting business. >> kenny: his two brothers, my uncles. >> a.j.: are your kids getting into bro camera at this point. behind the scenes.

>> kenny: tonight's telecast sponsored by budweiser. budweiser reminds you to drink wiser. two outs. top of the eighth inning. from progressive field in cleveland. indians with a run in the first. three in the fourth. three in the fifth. how about james hoyt, indians pitcher. >> a.j.: have you seen teams heed he's played for? >> kenny: he was undrafted out of centenary college, left baseball, working on cell phones in the san diego area and then tried out for a team with the independent league coached by jose canseco. >> a.j.: yuma scorpions, the edinburgh roadrunners, the wichita wingnuts, the omalucca

tabascos, the lansing lugnuts i played against but never the wichita wingnuts and he somehow advanced into organized ball. with the braves and now the big leagues. >> kenny: do you know which big-leaguer came from centenary? >> a.j.: robert parrish. robert aronoff, our stat guy wrote it down. he knew it. >> kenny: a contest between aaron and marty who could get the answer to a.j. quicker. >> a.j.: thanks for trying to make me look smart, guys. where is centenary college? >> kenny: louisiana. >> a.j.: i know that. where? >> kenny: we'll let you know during the next half inning.

'scuse me... this all you got? well, there is one seat... [baby crying] [man snoring] rivalries are tough. cool! i'll take it. saving money with geico is easy. go phillies. [baby crying] geico, proud partner of mlb. ♪ ♪ i've been a caregiver for 20 years. no two patients are the same. predicting the next step for them can be challenging. today we're using the ibm cloud to run new analytics tools that help us better predict and plan a patient's recovery. ♪ ♪ ultimately, it's helpingof s return home. ♪ ♪

on a pizza. this, is the works. try a large works or meats pizza for just $12 bucks. only at papa john's. performance comesust in lots of flavors. ♪ (dramatic orchestra) there's the amped-up, over-tuned, feeding-frenzy-of sheet-metal-kind. and then there's performance that just leaves you feeling better as a result. that's the kind lincoln's about. ♪

>> kenny: postseason baseball in a couple of weeks. astros, yankees, twins in first place, rays hope to be there, how about the a's and the indians? the remaining schedules for the wild card contenders, a.j., in the american league. >> a.j.: the a's have the schedule advantage. doesn't mean they're going to win them all. tampa bay, red sox, yankees, always tough. at the blue jays. never a fun place to go. how did the indians get such an unlucky draw? interleague versus the phillies and then at washington. to end the year. you can't get major league baseball to give us some interdivision stuff to end the year? >> kenny: there has to be at least one interleague series.

>> a.j.: you are correct. alca fifth pitcher of the night for the -- >> kenny: victor alcantara, fifth pitch of the night for the tigers facing yu chang. >> kenny: indians at the moment a half game behind the rays. >> a.j.: if they finish this off, they are tied with tampa bay. nine games to go. >> kenny: ronnie rodriguez in the game at third base. chang is 0-3. centenary college is in shreveport, louisiana. aside from hoyt and robert parish, seth lugo of the mets. pga legend hal sutton attended

centenary college. >> kenny: and cal hubbard. the only person enshrined in both the pro football and baseball hall of fame. he had a terrific nfl career and then became an umpire so he's in two hall of fames. played in the nfl back in the 1920's and 1930's then became a major league umpire also out of centenary college. >> a.j.: out of all the things i thought would happen tonight, i didn't think i would get a history lesson on centenary college in shreveport, louisiana. >> kenny: you never know. chang grounds out to the shortstop, castro. one away. >> a.j.: i can live my life much better now that i know that cal hubbard went to centenary college.

>> kenny: the lansing lugnuts made the telecast as well. >> a.j.: that's right. >> kenny: mike freeman. one for three. bottom of the eighth in cleveland. 7-0 indians. >> kenny: one thing we haven't yet mentioned, ron gardenhire in the second inning talked about his autograph collection in the baseball encyclopedia, when we met with ron prior to the game his perfect game at the bowling alley came up in the conversation. >> a.j.: a huge bowler.

he was a huge, huge bowler. i remember playing for him in the minnesota organization for the twins. spring training in fort myers, he was always trying to get people to go bowling with himp. always. coaches. players. he loves bowling. >> kenny: bowled a 300 game. >> a.j.: gator lanes in fort myers. he was very proud of that today. >> a.j.: tom kelly before ron gardenhire huge into dog racing. a dog track in naples he would go to and he would try to get people to go to the dog track with him. he was retired, let go, and tom kelly wanted to take our money at the bowling alley. >> kenny: both trying to take

your money in some fashion. tonight's telecast sponsored by geico. 15 minutes can save you 15% or more on car insurance. and by i.b.m. put smart to work. john adams. 3,000 and counting. >> kenny: think he has to pay for those peanuts? >> a.j.: i would hope not but whoever delivers them to him has to walk up a lot of stairs. was it the home run derby where mark mcgwire hit the ball about

where he was hitting off the scoreboard? wasn't that the home run derby year, mark mcgwire, kenny? >> kenny: marty, you have been at just about every home run derby, marty aronoff. mcgwire in cleveland? freeman moves to second. >> a.j.: we were wrong, kenny. i was wrong. apparently it was off orel hershiser in a regular season game which makes it that much more insane if you hit a ball that far where he's sitting. you can't eat and drum at the same time. >> kenny: why not? >> a.j.: might get distracted. eating peanuts, you can't pick the shells off the peanuts while he drums. he needs an assistant. send sam younger, one of our crew guys up there to shell the

peanuts for him. >> a.j.: this is why you can't eat and drum. the damage he's doing to the drum with the peanut shells bouncing off of it. he doesn't notice. i want to send j.p. up there and find out how many drumsticks he goes through every year. >> kenny: that would be perfect. get out there, j.p. >> j.p.: i would love that assignment. i used to be a drummer myself. i was never really cool but i used to be a drummer. i would love to talk drummer to drummer with john adams up there. >> a.j.: we know you were never question about that. >> a.j.: you do speak 27 languages.

tough relay race to e -- it run all the way up there to make it back in time for the post-game interview. we'll look at the logistics. >> kenny: i'll bet j.p. never had a bobblehead of himself as john adams did in 2006. >> a.j.: it should have been bobble arms to make his arms go up and down and play the drum. >> j.p.: drummer versus drummer. i used to drum in a funk band in high school. true story. we didn't have a name. we were sort of a collection of guys that would play at talent shows. >> kenny: coming on to make the diving catch is reyes. to rob lindor of his fourth hit tonight. >> a.j.: did you win the talent shows? nice catch by reyes in right field. j.p., did you win the talent shows? >> j.p.: we never run. we played covers of chicago.

that kind of work. i wish i could still reprise that level of rhythm. a drum set playing chicago in honor of your former home town, a.j. >> a.j.: does he get tired? he's got to get tired. he's been drumming for, what, five, six, seven minutes straight ever since -- >> kenny: 1973? >> a.j.: ever since the runner got in scoring position. ever since freeman got to second. he has not stopped drumming. >> kenny: would you hear it when you're on the field? >> a.j.: yes. i'm telling you, that and then when they score a run they do the one-up mario from "mario brothers" when they score a run. i hated both those things. i wish we could send j.p. when i was playing up there and get the guy's drum set. take it away, like a little kid.

>> kenny: our game summary sponsored by budweiser with the indians leading the tigers 7-0. lindor three hits. reyes a two-run shot. clevinger did not allow a run. tigers no hits with a runner in scoring position. john adams. drumming since 1973. here in cleveland. >> kenny: mercado. grounds out to end the inning. we head to the ninth. john adams takes a rare break. boost mobile has a super reliable, super fast network,

so you can stay connected almost anywhere. like up here at lookout point. but there's more... now all 4 of us get unlimited data, talk and text for just $25 per line per month. hashtag first date! he ain't family yet. but there's more... we got 4 lg stylo™5 phones for free. now the whole family can stay connected. not this connected. switch to boost mobile and get 4 lines with unlimited gigs for $25 per line per month plus 4 free lg stylo™5 phones, all on our super reliable, super fast nationwide network. they give us excellent customer otservice, every time.e. our 18 year old was in an accident. usaa took care of her car rental,

and getting her car towed. all i had to take care of was making sure that my daughter was ok. if i met another veteran, and they were with another insurance company, i would tell them, you need to join usaa because they have better rates, and better service. we're the gomez family... we're the rivera family... we're the kirby family, and we are usaa members for life. get your auto insurance quote today. a refreshing spiked seltzer, with only 90 calories and 0 grams of sugar. made with natural fruit flavors to bring you the perfect balance

of flavor and refreshment. kick off every game with bon & viv. >> kenny: back in cleveland as we move to the ninth, no runs, eight hits frts tigers. indians, seven runs on 12 hits -- no runs, eight hits for the tigers, indians seven runs on 12 hits. james karinchak, fourth pitcher of the evening for the indians. debut saturday against the twins. >> a.j.: he's got a very different delivery than you would see. straight over the top.

>> kenny: beckham is retired as the new third baseman flaherty makes the play. one away in the ninth. a.j., you mentioned it earlier, this indians pitching staff went through a lot of adversity, corey kluber out since may 1st, trevor bauer traded to cincinnati in late july, carlos carrasco missed three months with leukemia. mike clevinger, tonight's starting pitcher who was terrific missed 10 weeks with back and ankle injuries. >> a.j.: they have been incredible. the replacements they have come up with, plesac, plutko, civale, shane bieber, have been absolutely incredible.

their starters that for a team that was expected to make a deep run to the playoffs and they haven't lost a beat. they've gotten better. everyone says they trade trevor bauer. what are they doing? they've gotten better since then. e.r.a. is down almost a run in the starters and those four guys you just showed are a major part of it obviously. >> kenny: the most valuable player the all-star game, bieber. >> a.j.: not justin bieber. >> kenny: no. a shot to right center. a base hit for rodriguez. flaherty at third, chang moves to shortstop and bradley zimmer replaces yasiel puig in right field for the indians. >> kenny: here is greiner. one for three. great job by our entire crew in cleveland.

our producer, aaron stoikof. associate director andy cavanaugh, broadcast associate sam younger, technical producer carla echols, marty aronoff crunching the numbers. j.p. morosi downstairs and john adams banging the drum throughout the evening out in left center field. i think john has received more air time tonight than anybody. >> a.j.: trying to keep up with j.p. in the indians' dugout. >> kenny: j.p. and j.a.

>> a.j.: indians have a huge series this weekend with the phillies. we showed their schedule. we showed the replacements. bieber, plesac, plutko, the series that could well determine their postseason fate, and you would have taken a lot of money if you said those three guys would be starting meaningful games in september for the indians. >> kenny: terry francona told us before the game, talking about some of those pitchers you just mentioned, he said they saved us. >> a.j.: not only did they save them, they've given them the ability to trade trevor bauer and get yasiel puig and franmil reyes. if they didn't have them ready to go you can't trade trevor bauer and say we're still in the pennant race. >> kenny: waiting for it. karinchak. unable to make the play at first. the tigers with runners on second and third.

error charged to the pitcher, karinchak. >> a.j.: tough play. pitchers sometimes have a hard time throwing the ball softly. karinchak lawn-darts it. >> kenny: dodgers with 15 shutouts this season. indians one back. >> a.j.: more e starting pitchers. relievers. the entire pitching staff. roberto perez.

kevin pawlecci behind the plate. feather in their cap as a catcher also. >> kenny: willi castro one for three tonight. second and third, one out, top of the ninth inning with the indians leading 7-0.

>> kenny: rodriguez the runner on third. greiner takes his lead off second. castro. fouled back. 0-1. >> a.j.: did that ball hit your microphone, kenny? >> kenny: hit one of our mics downstairs. where is j.p.? >> a.j.: a nasty pitch there. a nasty breaking ball. this b