Browns under Cavs cover, protecting comedians and The Velvet Teen: While We’re Waiting
July 3, 2015Anthems and Echoes
July 3, 2015The Cleveland Indians won a ballgame with Corey Kluber on the mound for just the fourth time all season, as a Mike Aviles home run in the 10th inning secured a 5-4 triumph and a four-game sweep / public shaming of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Thursday matinee—played on a moldy green shag carpet inside a dark, charmless warehouse—saw the long-awaited return of Tampa hurler Matt Moore; back from his two-year mission for the Church of Tommy John. And yet, it was the Rays’ bats that grabbed all the attention once again; striking out a combined 19 times against Kluber (14), Bryan Shaw (2), and Cody Allen (3). Granted, the tough luck Klubot still couldn’t earn himself a “W” for the effort, but, with the Kansas City Royals dropping four straight, the Indians’ four-game win streak suddenly has them back to within eight games in the AL Central at 37-41. Call off the funeral, Pete Franklin.
Re-Capping
Yes, maybe it’s a bit strange / fortunate that every journeymen hitter in the Rays lineup seems to be in the midst of a 1-for-23 skid at the moment, but it shouldn’t diminish our appreciation for the sort of Henry Rowengartner pitching clinic the Tribe staff just put on in this series. First of all, Tampa was—believe it or not—a first place team in the AL East when the week began (they’re currently 42-39). And, all those 1-for-23 guys were theoretically just 1-for-10 or so when the Tribe came to town. No matter how you slice it, putting up three times as many strikeouts as hits allowed (39 to 13) in a four game series is bonkers.
Corey Kluber didn’t manage to start the game with five perfect innings—as had become a sort of fun tradition among his rotation mates—but he twirled another gem, nonetheless. His only real hiccups came at the hands of a couple of old friends as Grady Sizemore and Asdrubal Cabrera (the number one and two hitters on the 2007 Indians playoff squad) combined to go 3-for-8 with 3 RBI, including a pair of two-out hits in the sixth inning that tied the game at 4-4. Grady’s Ladies had to like seeing their hero—batting clean-up, no less—slapping a line drive to the opposite field on a low-outside Kluber fastball. Vintage form like a fine wine with chronic back issues.
Much has been made of Corey Kluber having the worst run support in baseball, but if you’re still desperate for a reason to criticize the defending Cy Young winner (say, for example, if you’re a bitter King Felix fan), his first inning woes seem like a vulnerable pressure point. A Yan Gomes throwing error contributed to Tampa plating two runs in the first inning in this one, but Kluber has certainly run into these early troubles on a regular basis all year. Kluber is posting a 7.94 ERA in first inning. Weirdly enough, his other trouble inning has been the sixth frame (7.36 ERA), and that reared its head again, as well. Here is Corey’s current inning-by-inning ERA breakdown over his confusing 2015 campaign.
Corey Kluber ERA by Inning in 2015:
1st: 7.94
2nd: 2.12
3rd: 3.71
4th: 1.06
5th: 1.59
6th: 7.36
7th: 3.09
8th: 1.42
9th: 0.00 (1 IP)
There does seem to be a pattern of sorts here. Kluber takes a minute to calibrate himself, runs out of steam the third time through the line-up, re-oils, and he becomes unhittable down the stretch, as he was Thursday, striking out five of the last six men he faced. Still, by contrast, Corey’s first inning ERA was 2.12 across 34 starts in 2014, and 1.84 in the sixth inning. His most vulnerable frame during his Cy Young season, other than the ninth, was the fifth inning–and a 3.13 ERA ain’t nothin’ to be of which to be ashamed. I guess all this really proves is that it’s hard to be incredible all the time forever.
Meanwhile, southpaw Matt Moore–a once dominant pitcher in his own right– was back after a long rehab, and it certainly felt like his season debut was going to spell doom for the Tribe’s percolating offensive momentum. Remember, it was just this past weekend that the Indians lineup, rather than Tampa’s set, was the laughing stock of baseball—plating zero runs in a Sunday double-header in Baltimore. Moore, who had held the Indians to a .175 batting average in four previous meetings, came out throwing darts; retiring the first nine men he faced. A Michael Brantley sacrifice fly plated the (still) scorching hot Jason Kipnis to cut the deficit to 2-1 in the fourth. But it was the fifth inning when the Tribe made its move, as five straight hitters reached base off Moore, all with two outs. Kipnis, Lindor, and Brantley produced RBI singles, putting Cleveland out in front 4-2. Moore was lifted for Steven Geltz, who got Carlos Santana to pop out with the bases loaded and a 2-0 count [harsh criticism of Santana edited out to sustain positive comment board mojo].
After the Rays’ ex-Indians squad tied the game in the sixth, things stayed that way until the first pitch of the 10th inning when Mike Aviles jumped on a Xavier Cedeno hanger and put it in the Thunderdome’s left field bleachers. Mike is hitting .300 this year with nobody on base and .190 when anybody is on base. But hey, hitting a game-winner to cap a big series…that couldn’t happen to a more deserving guy.1
C-Cap Recap Custom Box Score
July 2, 2015
Indians 5, Rays 4
Green Highlight (as in “Great”): Can a pitcher with a 3-9 record make an All-Star team? Yeah, of course. Ronnie Belliard made an All-Star team. The biggest obstacle in Kluber getting a ticket to the game in Cincinnati, though, might be one of his own teammates. If Carlos Carrasco or Danny Salazar make the squad—and both are deserving—it could make it harder to rationalize giving a slot to the Bot. Just the same, Kluber’s Cy Young resume could very well keep Cookie and Salazar out of the running. I imagine this could come down to another of those fan votes for the last roster spot, in which case, prepare for Edinson Volquez to win the day.
Yellow Highlight (as in “Almost Green”): Mike Aviles is very much the Mike Miller of the Indians—the veteran, high-character guy taking the youngsters under his wing and, on occasion, draining a big shot when his team needs it. Had the Indians lost this game in extra innings, it could have sapped a lot of the good feelings generated by the first three games in the series. Aviles took an aggressive approach, as he usually does, and made sure that didn’t happen.
Red Highlight (as in “Stop, You’re Bad”): It’s tough to stand out for your failures when SIX other guys in your lineup struck out twice. But as the face of his franchise, Evan Longoria’s game-high three strikeouts are likely to generate more negative press for him…presuming any media outlets are actively covering the Rays.
- Editor’s Note: For he’s a jolly good fellow, for he’s a jolly good fellow. For he’s a jolly good fell-ell-oooooh. Which, nobody can deny. [↩]
3 Comments
Don’t look now, but this week the Tribe picked up 4 games on the Royals in like 4 days. Feels like one of those seasons where in September we’ll look back at May-June and say “if we could have just been mediocre …”
These are always worth reading, even if only for the creative naming on the box scores.
“played on a moldy green shag carpet inside a dark, charmless warehouse”
I’m not sure if I’ve read a better description of “The Trop”. Well said, my man.