Player of the Game
Ryan Webb was solid in his Indians debut as he pitched three innings in relief of T.J. House and gave up just two hits. Webb also did not issue a walk in his appearance. Webb was recently released by the Los Angeles Dodgers, signed by the Indians and sent to Columbus. His contract was purchased by the Indians and the move forced the release of Jerry Sands, who had been leading the team in hitting batting .348 with eight hits in 23 at-bats. If you’re going to release a hot hitter on a struggling offense and replace him on the team with a bullpen arm, that replacement better be good. Webb delivered in his first appearance, so that’s a nice start. Hopefully, he can help stabilize a bullpen that has lacked consistency this season after being one of the Indians stronger units in 2014.
Feathers Up
With the bullpen called in so early in the game, there was potential for the game to become a blowout loss. So it was nice to see Brian Shaw have a strong outing as he was the runner-up for player of the game after pitching perhaps his best game of the young season. Shaw has been struggling a little to start the season, but he pitched two innings of scoreless and hitless relief while striking out four. His ERA has now dropped down to 3.68.
Nick Hagadone pitched the ninth inning and gave up two walks and a hit, but he was able to squeeze out of a jam without giving up a run. Hagadone lowered his ERA to 2.16 and is the kind of guy who can look dominate at times, but then have nights where he just doesn’t have it. Tonight, he was able to get the job done.
Although the Indians offense continues to be anemic, Michael Brantley gets a mention as he continued his hot hitting with a 3 for 4 night and is now batting .339. Brantley also drove in the Indians only run of the game in the fifth inning with a single to drive in Mike Aviles, who had doubled.
Feathers Down
It’s quite possible that this might have been the last start for House as he stumbled through another 3 inning performance and giving up five runs. House (0-4, 13.15 ERA) had cruised through the first three innings, but fell apart in the fourth when he allowed the first five batters to reach base. House issued a walk to Jose Bautista, then allowed singles to Edwin Encarnacion, and Danny Valencia that scored Bautista to make it 1-0. Russell Martin then doubled to score Encarnacion to give Toronto a 2-0 lead. Pillar then hit another double off House allowing Valencia and Martin to score to push the lead to 4-0 and send House to the showers. Webb relieved and gave up a suicide squeeze bunt to Jonathan Diaz to score Pillar to make it 5-0 and conclude the scoring for the inning.
Michael Bourn and Jason Kipnis continue their season long trend of not hitting when following each other in the lineup. Bourn who hit ninth tonight after batting leadoff most of the season was 1-4 with four runners left on base and is now hitting .200, while Kipnis as the leadoff hitter was 0-5 and left four runners on base. He is hitting .218 and it seems when these two struggle at the top of the lineup, then the entire offense follows suit.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 1 – Toronto Blue Jays 5
On Deck: The Indians will face Toronto tomorrow at 7:10 p.m. in the second game of the four-game series against the Blue Jays. Carlos Carrasco (2-2, 4.69 ERA) takes the hill against Toronto’s Mark Buehrle (3-1, 4.94 ERA) at Progressive Field in Cleveland.
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