Rangers 7 Indians 4: Defense Does them in Again

There’s a dirty little secret that is starting to make the rounds about our beloved Wahoo Warriors. After talking about how improved the defense was over the first six to seven weeks of the season, reality is starting to set in; the Indians are still a poor defensive ball club.

The mistakes are popping up seemingly every night and they are becoming costly. Its no coincidence that the Indians aren’t playing their best baseball right now and simultaneously the defense has gone into the tank. It hurt them badly again last night in the 7-4 loss to Texas.

Against a team with a lineup as deep as the Rangers, you just cannot afford to give up outs and that is exactly what the Indians did.

It looked like it would be the Tribe’s night as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second off of Dave Bush. Carlos Santana got things started with, surprise surprise, a walk. Grady Sizemore, moved into the Travis Hafner five-spot in the lineup, doubled to put runners in scoring position with nobody out. Travis Buck singled in Carlos to put the Tribe on the board 1-0. Orlando Cabrera then followed with an infield single up the middle to score Grady. After a Matt LaPorta K, Jack Hannahan’s sac fly scored Buck to make it 3-0.

Things all seemed to be working for Tribe starter Carlos Carrasco. He cruised through ther first four innings, giving up just two hits. But in the fifth, that all changed. Nelson Cruz hit a leadoff double and was brought around by two groundouts. It was now 3-1 Tribe with two outs and nobody on. It seemed like the damage was minimized. But then the bane of the Indians existence on this night, ninth place batter Endy Chavez singled and stole second. Ian Kinsler followed with a walk. All of a sudden, Carrasco couldn’t keep the ball down.

Elvis Andrus hit an eye-high fastball straight back up the middle to score Chavez. Reigning AL MVP Josh Hamilton then singled home Kinsler to tie things at three and we headed to the sixth with the momentum shifting in the Rangers direction.

Acta’s plan was to get Carrasco through five, take his chances in the sixth, but have the bullpen ready. That all changed quickly. He sent Carrasco out for the sixth, but was quickly burned. This is where the bad defense comes in.

After getting the first out, Cruz again doubled. Mitch Moreland followed with a single to right. On the play, Cruz took a wide turn of third and LaPorta cut Shin-Soo Choo’s throw home off. He had either Moreland or Cruz nailed in a rundown, but somehow managed to get neither. It was a blunder you just cannot make, especially when that is the second out of an inning in a tie game.

“He’s got to give the ball up as quick as possible,” said Acta. “If you get the guy hung up at third base, forget about the guy on first base. Who cares about that guy? If you’re going to worry about the guy on first base, give up the ball right away to Orlando [Cabrera], who was there. We need to get an out.”

Naturally, that opened the flood gates.

Yorvit Torealba’s sac fly – what should have been the third out of the inning – scored Cruz to put the Rangers ahead 4-3. Then Chavez tripled in Moreland. It was the third of his four hits on the night. Things got worse when Carrasco uncorked a wild pitch. Santana was able to get to the ball quickly, but neither Carrasco nor any of the infielders yelled for him to hang on to the ball with Chavez holding at third. Santana came up throwing home, and the toss was wide of the plate, allowing Chavez to score.

Two terrible defensive plays changed the entire complexion of the game.

Meanwhile, the Tribe bats were being silenced since that second inning by yet another obscure lefty, reliever Michael Kirkman. It wasn’t until the seventh, Kirkman’s third of work, that the Indians were able to get anything going. LaPorta hit his second homer in as many nights to pull the Tribe to within two. But it was as close as they would get.

They certainly had their chances in the eighth.

Lefty Darren Oliver relieved Kirkman and immediately was greeted with back to back singles by Choo and Santana. It seemed like the Indians were in business. But Sizemore struck out (and looked bad doing so) for the key first out. At worst you have to move the runners over in that spot. As expected, Acta called on the league’s top pinch hitter in 2011, Shelley Duncan, to face Oliver. He came in 4-5 with seven RBIs as a pinch hitter. Rangers skipper Ron Washington smartly countered with hard-throwing righty Mark Lowe. Lowe K’d Duncan for the second out. The last shot was Orlando Cabrera, who grounded out to short to end the threat.

The Rangers scratched across an insurance run in the ninth on another Tribe fielding miscue. This time it was Rafael Perez’s turn. With two outs and a man on second, Josh Hamilton hit a ground ball to LaPorta at first. He flipped the ball to a charging Perez and he flat out missed the throw. He took his eye off the ball to make sure he stepped on the bag. The run scored making it a 7-4 deficit.

“The defense really didn’t help us, but there were runners on base due to us not being able to make pitches,” said Acta after the game.

With a 3-0 lead and the Tribe’s bullpen being so good, you cannot give this game away, and that is exactly what they did. Now they turn to Justin Masterson (5-3, 3.07) to get back into the win column. Masterson won his first five starts but has recorded a W since. The Rangers, who have taken 13 of 16 from the Tribe, counter with Alexi Ogando (5-0, 2.33 ERA).

photo via Chuck Crow/PD