Mo Williams is back with the Cleveland Cavaliers
July 6, 2015The return of Panthro and Tristan’s lingering deal: While We’re Waiting
July 7, 2015Three steps backward, four steps forward, three steps back. That sequence not only describes the past 10 games for the Cleveland Indians, but it also feels like an overall summary for the season. The Indians dig themselves a hole before starting to climb out of it, only to start digging again. In the end, this team has the talent to compete with the elite of the American League, but they have not had the consistency to sustain success.
Monday was another step backward as the Houston Astros jumped on them early and kept the pressure on the bullpen throughout as they defeated the Indians 9-4.
Keys of the Game
Tabasco Carrasco returns:
When Terry Francona did not send out Corey Kluber for the ninth inning on May 13 versus the St. Louis Cardinals when he had a chance at breaking the MLB and Indians franchise strikeout records, there was some outrage that the team did not value the significance of going for history despite what an elevated pitch count could do to Kluber in his next start (Kluber ended the night after eight innings and 113 pitches)1 .
Francona did send out Carlos Carrasco for the ninth inning on July 1 as Carrasco attempted to complete a no-hitter against the Tampa Bay Rays. However, it was evident early in the inning that Carrasco was losing his command as he walked Asdrubal Cabrera and hit Brandon Guyer with a pitch. Carrasco stayed on long enough to lose his no-hit bid and racked up 124 pitches on the night (10 more pitches than he had pitched in any outing in his career).
On Monday, Carrasco lost his no-hit bid on the first batter of the game, his shutout on the fourth batter, and each of the first five Astro batters reached base safely (Yan Gomes did throw out Jose Altuve attempting to steal second base). When the damage was done, Carrasco had given up four runs on 39 pitches and set the stage for what would become his shortest (non-hit-by-line-drive induced) outing of the season.
To his credit, Carrasco did manage to settle things down after the first inning, giving up only one other run on a Preston Tucker home run in the fourth (Tucker was 3-for-3 off Carrasco with a single, double, and a home run). However, Carrasco had poor control throughout the evening and needed to labor through each inning.
Bullpen offers no relief:
Nick Hagadone entered Monday having only given up runs in four of his past 21 appearances, and only once in his past seven games. Hagadone started well Monday, pitching a clean fifth inning. Unfortunately though, Francona sent him out for the sixth inning and he gave up a leadoff hit to Jason Castro, who scored during Austin Adams’ self-combustion.
Jake Marisnick is probably looking back at his sacrifice back to Austin Adams with a glum face this morning. After he sacrificed Castro to second base, four of the next five Astro batters reached base safely as Houston plated three more runs and put the game out of reach.
Just so he did not feel left out of the festivities, Jeff Manship gave up a leadoff home run to Marwin Gonzalez in the seventh inning before the Indians retired 9 of the last 10 Houston batters on the night. Manship retired six of them himself before turning the final three outs of the night over to Zach McAllister.
Scoring was too little, too late:
Giving up a four run lead before one of 2015’s legitimate AL Cy Young Award candidates takes the mound is not a good way to start a game. Dallas Keuchel did not have the command issues of Carrasco early in the game as he struck out three Indians in the first two innings, while only giving up a single hit (a Yan Gomes double).
The Indians managed to do much better the second time through the order though as they were hitting the ball hard and scored runs in three of the next four innings. Sadly, they notched just one run in each of those frames as Keuchel escaped each time through a litany of strikeouts and an inning-ending double play.
The damage was done more to Keuchel’s pitch count as he, like Carrasco, had his shortest outing of the season (six innings pitched). However, the hole dug was too deep and the Astros bullpen held strong.
Key Moment Scorecard:
Houston Astros: 3
Cleveland Indians: 0
Old Friends; Help or Haunt
Luis Valbuena: He did not play.
The Nine
Jason Kipnis: Kipnis at least kept his 29-game home hitting streak alive along with officially being selected to the All-Star Game. The last home game that Kipnis did not have a recorded hit was in April (a 5-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on April 30).
Francisco Lindor: Only one walk in his past 36 plate appearances. Francona should likely drop him in the lineup as it makes more sense to have someone with a higher OBP batting second. However, Lindor managed two hits on Monday.
Michael Brantley: No hits, but he did reach safely on a walk. Brantley is going through one of his mini-slumps as he is 3-for-23 with three walks in July. Usually, these down periods do not last long for him.
Ryan Raburn / David Murphy: The only Indians starter that did not reach base, Ryan Raburn could not figure out Dallas Keuchel as he struck out in all three at bats. Murphy did his job with a sacrifice fly to score Mike Aviles in the seventh.
Carlos Santana: The object of more scorn from Indians fans than he deserves continued his slump. Santana needs to get back to his career averages for the Indians offense to awaken. His OPS+ has dropped below the MLB average2 for the season as it sits at 96, which is bad enough. It is worse as he is a first baseman whom the Indians rely on as a middle of the order hitter.
Yan Gomes: Yanimal threw out Altuve in the first inning, then was super-aggressive at the plate. His power is returning as he had two doubles for the game.
Brandon Moss: A triple. Brandon Moss hit and ran for a triple. And, now four of his six hits in July have been extra base hits (.273/.333/.682 in 22 at bats).
(Pay no attention to the ball boy stool that slowed the ball up to allow Moss make his way to third base.)
Giovanny Urshela: Such a shame that his one-hit-per-game streak ended on Sunday, but he started another one up on Monday. Urshela has now started 23 MLB games. He has exactly one hit in 18 of those games, two hits in one of those games, and zero hits in four of those games.
Mike Aviles: Putting Mike Aviles in the outfield is not something that a team wanting a strong defense would do. However, Aviles continues to provide enough at the plate to make his defense the lesser of the current option evils (and it is not like Michael Bourn’s defense is doing well).
1 Comment
Great headline!