Player of the Game
The Indians had major issues scoring again today, but the man who was responsible for knocking in two of the Indians three runs was not a member of the starting lineup. Ryan Raburn pinch hit for David Murphy with the bases loaded in the seventh and grounded out to the right side of the infield to score the second run of the game. In that at bat, Buck Showalter had changed pitchers after Raburn was announced so he had to face a right hander and he was forced to again in the ninth when he came to the plate for a second time against the side arming Darren O’Day. Raburn came through again, this time with an RBI single to left to score Jason Kipnis from second base.
Other than Raburn, Kipnis was the Indians only positive offensive performer as he hit safely three times including two doubles.
Feathers Up
Ignoring poor defense that cost the Tribe a run in the seventh, the Indians middle relief pitched well tonight, throwing four innings and striking out seven. Only four Orioles reached against the pen by hit or walk between the fifth and eight innings and only one unearned run scored. Austin Adams did the most work of the group, giving up just one walk and one single in 1.2 innings and striking out batters for four of his five outs recorded while Ryan Webb also pitched well with three strike outs in 1.1 innings.
Feathers Down
Carlos Carrasco is usually lights out with two strikes on a batter, but he had some issues today after getting two outs in the fourth. Starting the inning perfect with none on and two outs, Jimmy Paredes hit a 2-0 single, then J.J. Hardy followed with a solid 0-2 single up the middle. After a rare walk loaded the bases, a defensive miscue by Lonnie Chisenhall cost the Indians the third out and a run. Travis Snyder hit another two strike pitch into centerfield, scoring two more for the Orioles, giving them a 4-0 lead.
The Indians were given a great opportunity to come back in the bottom of that inning after David Murphy and Brandon Moss started things off with doubles. With one run in, Nick Swisher was hit by a pitch and it looked like things were going well. Moss was then nearly picked off at second, but Hardy apparently missed the tag and he was called safe. Since he appeared to be out by quite a distance, the Orioles challenged, yet the call stood. Despite this gift, Chisenhall and Yan Gomes each struck out to slow things down before Michael Bourn ended the inning with an easy ground out.
This was essentially Carrasco’s worst start of the season, although it was similar to one on April 26th against Detroit. Carrasco was pulled after allowing a lead-off triple to Matt Wieters in the fifth inning. Wieters ended up scoring off Nick Hagadone for Carrasco’s fifth run allowed in addition to seven hits and two walks compared to just three strike outs. All these numbers are out of line for Carrasco on the year and, particularly considering his inability to throw strikes, there may be some injury concern. After throwing three straight balls to Wieters in the 5th, Terry Francona was headed to the mound with a trainer, but Carrasco sent them back to the dugout. He was removed from the game at the end of that at bat.
Chisenhall has been bad all season, but at least his surprisingly solid defense has kept him a somewhat valuable player. Until today that was. In addition to going 1/4 at the plate with two strike outs and a runner stranded in scoring position (0 for last 13 overall with five RISPLOB before his 8th inning single) Chisenhall committed two egregious defensive errors, one which turned into an unearned run in the seventh, and another ugly defensive misplay mentioned earlier.
After hitting a season low of 10-19 on May 9th, the Indians went on a solid run of 15-7 through June 2nd to get to within one game of .500. Since then, the Indians have alternated wins and losses for five games to continually remain just a game or two below even. Since the Royals and Tigers have been struggling of late as well, Cleveland has gained 3.5 spots on the Central Division since May 24th, which is great considering they actually lost a game in the standings during their hot stretch from May 9th through the 24th. With all this, the Indians are still very much in the Central race, but losing series against AL East teams is not the way to stay there.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 3 – Baltimore Orioles 7
On Deck: The Indians won’t be playing baseball on Monday, but they won’t be idle either. The amateur draft begins tomorrow at 7 PM and Cleveland has three picks in the first two rounds, #17, #42 and #59 overall. On Tuesday, the Indians will get to choose 17th each round from three through ten starting at 1 PM, then they will begin a three game series against the Mariners at 7:10 PM in Cleveland. Corey Kluber will face off against Taijuan Walker, who dominated the Indians in their last match.
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