I know the Indians are completely undermanned and its something that the Wahoo Nation needs to keep telling themselves, but watching Luis Valbuena play left field was both brutal and costly over the last 10 innings. Sweet Luis is far from the only problem or reason that the Tribe squandered the series when they had a great chance for a sweep; he was more like a microcosm for the losses on Tuesday night and yesterday afternoon.
With Michael Brantley out for a second straight game with a stomach ailment and Travis Buck still woozy from being drilled in the head a night earlier, manager Manny Acta had no other option but to start Sweet Luis in left. It was the first career start for the second baseman. It will probably be his last. But lets not get ahead of ourselves here.
The afternoon tilt was not televised locally, so I kicked it old school, listening to Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus throughout on the Indians radio network. I have to say that these two are real pros. They really do an excellent job and as you all already know, Hammy is one of the best in the game and tells it like it is. My man pulls no punches. Prime example: While Luis Valbuena was putting up weak at-bats and making mistakes in the field, Hamilton says “Valbuena is really doing himself no favors with this performance.”
Josh Tomlin took the mound looking to put his last outing behind him where he stumbled in Baltimore. It looked like he was in for another long day right away. Ben Revere led off the game with a single. Alexi Casilla doubled to right, scoring Revere. Joe Mauer, who the Indians couldn’t get out all series, singled in Casilla. Three batters in, it was 2-0 Twins, which seemed like an steep uphill climb with Tribe killer Nick Blackburn on the mound and another lineup full of former Columbus Clippers.
Tomlin recovered nicely to minimize the damage, K’ing Michael Cuddyer and inducing a Jim Thome double play ball.
In the fourth, the Tribe mounted their first offense threat. Ezequiel Carrera reached on an infield single. Asdrubal Cabrera singled ahead of Travis Hafner’s walk. The bases were loaded with nobody out. Carlos Santana, who really needs to step up his game, K’d looking on a pitch that was a good six inches off the plate according to Hammy. Matt LaPorta then sent a fly ball to deep center which looked like an easy sac fly, except Revere lost the ball in the sun and dropped it. Two Indians would score to tie the game on Revere’s gift. They still had two runners in scoring position with one out. Orlando Cabrera worked deep into the count (I know, shocking) and brought in Hafner on an RBI ground out.
With the Tribe now ahead 3-2, Tomlin needed to hold the Twins down.
Cuddyer, a thorn in the Indians side, led off the bottom of the fourth with a single. Thome sent a fly ball to shallow center. Carrera made a diving attempt, but didn’t come up with the ball, which rolled all the way to the wall. Cuddyer could have walked home to tie the game. Two batters later, Delmon Young’s single brought in Thome and again the Tribe was playing from behind.
In the sixth, they scratched and clawed their way to another tie. With one out, Hafner doubled. He moved to third on Santana’s ground ball. He would score on great base-running on a passed ball. So the Tribe scored four runs – two on a dropped fly ball, one on a groundout, and one on a passed ball.
Despite the fact that they couldn’t come up a big hit, the Indians were tied heading into the seventh. Tomlin had settled down and retired the last eight men he faced.
The Tribe had their best chance to break it open in the seventh. Facing reliever Alex Burnett, Orlando Cabrera singled to open the frame. Lonnie Chisenhall followed with a single of his own. Austin Kearns laid down a sacrifice bunt and the Tribe seemed to be in business. Except it was Sweet Luis’s turn to hit.
The Twins countered with lefty Jose Mijares and since the Indians had no other option for a left fielder, Valbuena had to hit. After taking a strike, Luis weakly fouled out to first. Little did we know it wasn’t the worst of what we would see out of him the rest of the way.
With two outs, it was up to Carrera. He fell behind 0-2, and then grounded out to end the inning. This was an absolute killer to not score in this situation. An inning later the Tribe once again had a runner in scoring position with less than two outs and failed to bring him in. Hafner was stranded by Santana and LaPorta after a one out double.
Tony Sipp started the eighth, following Joe Smith who pitched a scoreless seventh. Casilla, a left-handed batter, sent a fly ball to left center. Both Valbuena and Carrera made a play on the ball, and neither of them decided to actually catch it. It turned into a lead off ground-rule double, and the beginning of the end of this game for the Wahoos.
“No one called for the ball,” said Valbuena. “I tried to catch it. Then I felt that Ezequiel was right there next to me. I was scared to go boom, you know what I mean.”
Asked about the play, Acta said simply “It’s the left fielder’s ball.”
But he added more: “If you have an everyday outfielder, I’m sure that it probably could’ve been caught.”
The flood gates were about to be opened. Mauer followed with a sharp single to left, moving Casilla to third. After a huge strike out of Cuddyer, Sipp walked Thome to load the bases. With a bevy of righties coming up, Acta went to Vinnie Pestano in hopes of striking his way out of the jam. It was Valencia, the man who did them in a night before, who got another shot to be the hero.
Pestano jumped ahead 1-2 before Valencia hit a flair towards right, just out of the reach of Orlando Cabrera, bringing in the go-ahead run. I promised myself I wouldn’t mention OC’s lack of range or that he has to come up with that ball and didn’t. Vinnie then K’d Delmon Young and it looked as if maybe the damage would be minimized.
It wasn’t.
Tsuyoshi Nishioka laced a two-out single to left, scoring two more Twins. It turned out to be a bigger hit than we thought. Lonnie Chisenhall crushed a 441-foot solo shot to the upper deck in right off of closer Joe Nathan, but it was all for naught as the Twins took the finale 7-5 to earn a series split.
Under normal circumstances, a 4-4 road trip is acceptable. But when you start both series wining the first two games and the opponents are the sad sack Orioles and a beaten up Twins team, you have to do better than that.
I know the Indians are a completely undermanned team – they played the last two games without their top four outfielders – but you can’t help but think they missed a golden opportunity. They got great starting pitching in three of the four games, but the bullpen had perhaps their worst series of the year. The starters (David Huff, Fausto Carmona, Justin Masterson, and Josh Tomlin) had a 2.03 ERA while Indians relievers had an ERA of 9.39.
With the off day today and the Chicago White Sox, who have owned them this season, coming to town Friday, this is a precarious time for the Tribe. Word is that both Travis Buck and Michael Brantley will be back Friday. It also wouldn’t shock me if we see the season debut of infielder Jason Donald in the utility spot currently being taken by Valbuena.
After the last two games, nobody would blame them if they made that change.
AP photo/Genevieve Ross
