Ball Played: Starters? Where the Indians are going they won’t need starting pitching

The deck was stacked against the Cleveland Indians against the Cincinnati Reds going into Monday night. The Tribe was set to start Cody Anderson, a pitcher in whom the Indians had lost all six games he has pitched.¹ The Reds were countering with the left-handed John Lamb who came into the start with a 1.80 ERA. To make matters worse, the Reds were in last place in the NL Central just as the Indians were coming off a week in which they fell apart against the AL Central last-place Minnesota Twins and AL West last-place Houston Astros. However, the Indians (18-17) found their needed one point twenty-one jigga watts of electricity as they embarked on a journey to the 1990s in a 15-6 victory over the Reds (15-23) as they battle to retain the Ohio Cup.²

Poor old George Cody cannot stay out of his own way

Cody Anderson came into 2016 off the back of a strong 2015 season where he gave up one earned run or less in eight of his 15 starts and two earned runs or less in 11 of those 15 starts. Sure, he had an unsustainably low BABIP (.237) and a poor strikeout rate (12.1%), but he also had added three miles per hour to his fastball and dominated in Spring Training. So, while it shouldn’t have taken the Indians by surprise to see his BABIP balance out (.358), his added strikeout rate (15.5%) has simply not been enough to continue his success from last year.

In fact, 2016 has been about as bad for Anderson as falling out of a tree while attempting to be a peeping tom only to have the girl’s father run you over with his car. Anderson has yet to last more than six innings and has now given up 27 earned runs in his last 26.2 innings pitched.

It would be fair to say that manager Tito Francona has a bit of a blindspot when it comes to Anderson, which explains his continual usage despite the wreck of a season he has undergone. But, don’t expect the Indians to return your phone call when you ask them who is going to help pay for the cleaning bill from spilling your beer during Anderson’s starts.

And, where’s the report on Monday’s start? Uh, well, I haven’t finished it up yet, but you know I figured since the Indians won by so many runs and they don’t play again until tonight that it didn’t really…OK, now, I’ll uh finish up that report.

The Reds fired out of the gate like a group of Libyan Nationalists who were given a box of spare pinball parts instead of the nuclear bomb they were promised. Joey Votto scored on a Brandon Phillips double, and it took Indians catcher Yan Gomes throwing Phillips out at third base to survive the initial onslaught.

Robert Duvall’s estranged son Adam³ continued to push the point total upwards with a solo home run in the second inning. Anderson avoided further damage after Darth Vader from the planet Vulcan scared him into completing his density.

Eugenio Suarez then hit a two-run shot in the third inning to keep Anderson from having more innings pitched than runs allowed. At that point, the Reds had built up a 4-0 lead, Anderson had yet to invite Lorraine to the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance, and Dan Otero’s image was starting to disappear from the team photo.

Finally, after a miraculous zero-run fourth before giving way to two more runs given up in the fifth, manager Tito Francona made his way out to the mound and told Anderson to make like a tree and get out of here.

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DeLoreans, skateboards, and guitar solos

Things did not start off so hot for the Tribe. After Anderson wrecked the car, the Libyans shot up the place, and John Lamb breezed through the first two innings, the Indians found themselves down four runs. The game did not start to turn until Marlon Byrd did some nifty skateboard work that left the Reds crashing into a pile of horse manure in the third inning. Or Zack Cosart threw away a Juan Uribe grounder to allow the inning to start with runners on the corners and no outs. One or the other.

Lead-off hitter Rajai Davis then took his 40 sOPS+ (100 is average) versus left-handed pitching to the plate to face southpaw Lamb. Of course, he came through with a single. And, Francisco Lindor doubled.⁴ And, Mike Napoli singled. And, the Tribe had come all the way back to tie the game at four runs each, while they also remembered the clock tower was going to be hit by lightning providing them with the power needed to make the return trip if they could harness the energy into the flux capacitor.

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Davis wasn’t even done though as he found himself on first base (after a walk) with Jose Ramirez on third the next inning. Jason Kipnis singled up the middle and Davis turned on the jets to reach 88 miles per hour as flames and smoke were left on the basepaths as he drug his back foot across the plate while avoiding a Ramon Cabrera tag and principal Strickland. The Indians had turned a 4-0 deficit into a 7-4 lead though George McFly Cody Anderson would bumble things to pull the game into a tight 7-6 contest.

But, the Indians had transported Progressive Field back to Jacob’s Field in the 1990s. Sure, there weren’t great eating options like Barrio’s or the Melt. Nor was there great starting pitching.⁵ But, there were runs. Oh, so many runs.

And, despite Mike Napoli receiving bogus Mark Reynolds comparisons earlier this season, Yan Gomes is proving himself to be a much better comp to Reynolds. After suffering through a prolonged slump, Gomes has been busting out as he hit his third home run in the last three games. On Monday, it was worth three runs. Gomes must figure if his OBP is going to be a paltry .212, then he might as well hit home runs when he does make contact.

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Marlon Byrd followed up with a two-run home run, and the Indians were up 12-6 in the sixth inning as they busted out Johnny B Goode with a wicked guitar solo.

By that point, it was just a matter of avoiding retaliation by Biff, continuing to trickle in runs, and making it back to the town square in time for the lightning storm. Every single starter had scored a run. Every single starter except for Uribe had reached base at least twice. Uribe and Jose Ramirez were the only starters without a RBI. And, the Indians finished up the night one game closer to winning the Ohio Cup again.

But, they still needed some late lightning to complete out the night. Michael Martinez was there to deliver. He pinch-ran for Kipnis and scored a run. He doubled in the eighth to drive in the 15th and final run (though a throwing error by Duvall negated the RBI for him), and he even made this defensive web gem, while forcing Biff to put the second coat of wax on the 4×4.

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1. Five starts and he had a walk-off loss in extra innings [↩]
2. Let us all be thankful they set the digital date to go back 20 years instead of 30 as was common in the movies because no one wants to relive the 1986 season again. [↩]
3. Note: I could find no evidence that he was or was not Robert Duvall’s estranged son, but I didn’t look for any. [↩]
4. Please ignore the fact that his pop fly double should have been caught. [↩]
5. Hey, remember when we forced ourselves to believe Charles Nagy was a top-flight starter? [↩]