Ball Played: CSI Tampa; Cookie returns to scene in Indians win

Sometimes we all need a reminder of why life is good. When summer first hits, the initial feeling of the painfully sticky air that leaves a film of sweat upon our skin throughout the day is unpleasant. That is until our first cannonball into the cool, refreshing water spikes our dopamine counts while reviving childhood summer memories within our mind. Such initial frustrations had defined the Indians season thus far as none of the weather, hitting, defense, or pitching had provided a consistent outing. At least until Wednesday when Carlos “Cookie” Carrasco dominated the Tampa Bay Rays lineup on Tuesday in a much-needed 4-1 Indians win.

Keys of the Game

Tabasco Carrasco had hot sauce in his bag

When Carrasco has all of his pitches working, it is just unfair to the hitters. To show just how little chance the hitters had on Wednesday, take a look at the Whiffs category in the BrooksBaseball.net chart below:

Rays hitters were whiffing at over 30% of the time when Carrasco threw an off-speed pitch and only could manage six balls in play on 38 pitches (none for hits). Of course, Carrasco was setting up those off-speed pitches with a 95 mile-per-hour fastball and 93 mile-per-hour sinker. There were plenty of times where the Rays hitters were swinging at balls in the dirt because Cookie was able to keep his release point and delivery consistent no matter the pitch being thrown.

As seen by the chart below, six of his eight strikeouts were from hitters chasing balls well below the strikezone.

Brooksbaseball.net

Second time through the order

While sample sizes are still incredibly small, the Indians are showing an ability to learn and adapt to starting pitchers. The team has struggled on offense overall, but the second time through the order is where the Indians have found some measures of success as they have twice as many extra base hits (3:6) with nearly half as many strikeouts (19:10) when facing a starter the second time through.

Such was the case again on Wednesday¹ as the bulk of the Indians offense was in the fourth inning after left-hander Drew Smyly had breezed through the first three innings recording nine straight outs including five strikeouts.

But, in the fourth inning, Rajai Davis showed Mike Napoli how speedy runners stretch an extra base as he took advantage off his hit being deflected off Brad Miller’s glove into left field. Jason Kipnis moved Davis over to third with a single before Lindor came up. The Rays probably thought they were trading a run for a double play, but Lindor easily beat out the throw as Davis crossed the plate.

https://vine.co/v/itWHezbgvml

More trading outs for runs happened after Mike Napoli put himself and Lindor into scoring position for Carlos Santana with a double. And, Santana delivered a sacrifice fly. Perhaps the Rays would have had a semblence of a chance had right fielder Brandon Guyer called off second baseman Logan Forsythe, but instead it required a rushed 360-throw that was not only not in time to get Lindor (tagging up), but also traveled into the seats. The umpire awarded Mike Napoli home plate.

https://vine.co/v/itWHEpE7dxg

Defense puts on a show

The Indians defense was supposed to be one of the components of the team that could be consistently relied upon to deliver. While it has shown to be good in some instances, there have also been some crucial mistakes in the early goings. However, on Wednesday, the defense shined on several occasions.

None of those defensive opportunities were more important than in the eighth inning after Terry Francona had made the prudent move to insert Tyler Naquin into center field, move Rajai Davis to left field, and sit Marlon Byrd on the bench. Tito’s shift seemed prescient when Curt Casili hit a double, then was rounding home as Logan Forsythe singled into left. Given this opportunity to show off his arm, Davis threw a bullet to home where Yan Gomes hauled in the throw and made the perfect tag. The play was reviewed and upheld as an outfield assist for Davis.

https://vine.co/v/itAbWtHe73g

After making a nice snare on a tough throw from Gomes earlier in the game, Napoli was set to shine again in the ninth to help Cody Allen regain his confidence. Unseen in the Vine below, Napoli was rocking in and out of a crouched stance when he pounced with cat-like reflexes to snare the baseball.

https://vine.co/v/itAMJg2i6Xx

One of the quirks (read: ridiculous things) about Tropicana Field is that the ceiling of the dome is white (great for picking up a white baseball) and there are catwalks where the ball sometimes gets stuck. The issue of tracking fly balls has presented itself for both clubs throughout this series, but no player did a better job with playing to it than Francisco Lindor. The foul ball might forever be upon the catwalk, so Lindor decided to have some fun with the situation. WFNY’s Will Gibson was right when he said that Lindor just carries that special something that makes us all excited to see what might be next.

Cody Allen in a save situation

What happened on Tuesday with Allen? I don’t remember. Here he is when put into a save situation though.

https://vine.co/v/itAM3v7ULj3

The Numbers

There are some good things and some bad things that came out of this game, here they are in numerical format

Carrasco in Tampa: 16.2IP, 5H, 2R/ER, 3BB, 1HBP, 21 SO, 217 pitches (142 strikes) — 1 extra base hit (double)

Yeah, so the last two starts in Tampa for Carlos Carrasco have been pretty OK, right? Less than a year after coming within a Joey Butler bloop from recording a no-hitter, Carrasco carried a one-hitter into the eighth inning before the Rays finally broke through with a solitary run. Cookie doesn’t seem to mind pitching at the Trop.

Strikeouts haunting Indians (and other bad hitting indicators)

Another 15 strikeouts on Wednesday for an Indians lineup that continues to be plagued with them. Collin Cowgill continued to stamp his ticket out of town with three strikouts in three at bats (Lonnie Chisenhall and Michael Brantley continued their rehab assignments on Wednesday). Cowgill now has six strikeouts in eight at bats on the season. However, Cowgill is not the lone offender as every single Indians starter struck out at least once.

The Indians K-rate is now sitting at a ridiculous 28.3%, which is only better than the winless Minnesota Twins. The team is combining their issues by walking less in 2016. Their 0.25 BB:K ratio is only better than the Oakland Athletics, while the team’s .259 OBP is the worst in baseball. The .208 batting average is third worst in MLB (ahead of the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets).

Thus far, the offense has been saved by some timely power and good baserunning and hurt by some well hit balls finding gloves (specifically Juan Uribe and Davis have been victimized). If the Tribe can cut down those strikeouts and increase the walks, then the offense would get a significant jolt. It is early, but, again, worth tracking.

https://vine.co/v/it7ApzPYzwt

Statistics via fangraphs, baseball-reference, brooksbaseball, and baseballsavant unless otherwise indicated

1. A night after they failed to capitalize the second time through the order on Matt Moore. [↩]