Saturday night’s 6-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics was mundane in many ways except for the battle that did not happen. The Indians chose not to be drawn into a beanball match with Billy Butler, choosing to put away the A’s with a workmanlike demeanor that would have been scorned as lacking character by a previous generation.
Butler gave his teammates a spark in the fourth inning by jawing with Chris Gimenez, apparently accusing the Indians catcher of being a buttinsky as he complained about the umpiring. Butler seemed displeased by an earlier strike call and resented Gimenez saying, in effect, “shut up and hit.
Brouhaha avoided, victory secured
