Indians 4, Royals 3: Deep blasts, solid pitching and a squirrel help Tribe win

Last year it was the Rally Chicken. Is 2014 the year of the Squirrel? Twice during last night’s series opener with the Kansas City Royals, a squirrel interrupted play. Players and members of the Indians ground crew tried to corral the little guy who was eventually ushered off the field. “I was like, `C’mon over here and sit in my glove,” Nick Swisher said. “I thought maybe he’d sit on my shoulder like a parrot. I tell you what, that squirrel is eating, bro. That was a big squirrel.”

The squirrel gave some comic relief to a tense, close game that went back and forth, but was eventually won by the Tribe 4-3. It shouldn’t have been that close.

Let’s start with the positives. The offense, which sputtered most of the weekend, clubbed out 11 hits, but needed two long balls to do the damage. Facing ex-Indian first round pick Jeremy Guthrie, Michael Brantley once again provided the dramatics. He broke a scoreless fourth inning tie with a two-run homer to right. It was his second blast in as many days and his fourth on the year. Dr. Smooth has never been a guy known for his power, but he currently sits tied for third in the AL in homers (4) and is second in RBIs (18).

Swisher, Jason Kipnis, and Lonnie Chisenhall — the Tribe’s 2-3-4 hitters — each had two hits. The only Indians starter who didn’t get a hit was DH Jason Giambi, making his first start of the season, and he was one of several Wahoos that was robbed of a hit by the terrific Kansas City defense. It was Kipnis though who provided the biggest hit of the night.

Zach McAllister was once again cruising along, looking like he was in complete control for his third straight start. But after the Indians took that 2-0 lead on the Brantley home run, something all too familiar occurred; the defense inserted themselves into the game in a negative fashion. The Wahoos seem to have a knack for giving back the runs they scored in their previous at-bat. In fact, in the 42 innings that the Indians have scored, opponents have returned the favor 20 times in their next at-bat.

Mike Moustakas led off the top of the fifth with a double. Alcedes Escobar than roped a liner to center field with Michael Bourn just about got to, but on his dive the ball hit the heel of his glove and popped out for another double, scoring Moustakas. It was a play that Bourn really could have and probably should have made. Up next was Jerome Dyson who attempted his second bunt in as many at bats (Ned Yost is really weak for bunting as early and as often as he does). McAllister fielded it and fired it wide of Nick Swisher at first. The error handed KC another run, which tied the game and Dyson ended up at second. He would score on a two-out RBI single by Omar Infante.

Bad defense was letting them down once again. If they play a clean inning, the Royals at best come out with just run one. Instead, the Tribe trailed 3-2. “Any time they give us runs, you want to have a shut-down inning,” McAllister said. “To give up three there was pretty frustrating for myself, especially in a game like that where runs are at a premium. To not get that shut-down inning was frustrating for me. Especially in a game like that where runs were at a premium.”

In addition to McAllister’s error and Bourn’s flub, Chisenhall made two errors at third, but neither came back to haunt the Indians. The Royals in the meantime are as good as it gets defensively. If they are the Seattle Seahawks, then the Indians are the late-season Browns.

The good news was that that Yost sent out Guthrie for the sixth. Swisher led off with a double of the wall in left-center, which set the stage for heroics from the Tribe’s All-Star second baseman. Guthrie left a hanger right over the heart of the plate and Kipnis crushed it to right-center for a back-breaking two-run shot that gave the Indians the lead once again. It was his second of the young season.

McAllister came out for the top of the seventh, but left after walking Escobar to lead off the inning. The back end of the Indians bullpen has been so solid thus far and last night was no exception. Lefty Marc Rzepczynski came on and erased Escobar on a Justin Maxwell on a fielder’s choice. He then delivered a huge pickoff of Maxwell who was trying to steal second. The man they call “Scrabble” finished the Royals off with a strikeout of Norichika Aoki.

Z Mac’s book was closed on the Maxwell fielder’s choice. In his last three starts, he has allowed just three earned runs in 19.2 innings pitched. Heady stuff from a guy that the Indians are counting on to take that next step.

“I thought he was good,” Francona said of his starter. “I thought for the most part, his fastball was 92-93 [mph] at the knees. That’s a good pitch. And then off of that, he threw some offspeed pitches. The one inning that he gave up some contact, and we had a couple missteps, he kept making pitches and he didn’t come unglued. And then, he went back out and pitched good again.”

Cody Allen and John Axford retired the final six Royals in order to give McAllister his third win. Allen looked dominant once again and has yet to allow an earned run in his 11 appearances. Axford pitched a 1-2-3 ninth — yes, you read that correctly — and gave Indians fans a nice relaxing finish for his AL-leading seventh save.

As for the squirrel, it is always welcomed back as long as the Tribe keeps winning. Tonight they go for three straight and look to get back to .500 as Danny Salazar (0-2, 7.71 ERA) takes on KC ace James Shields (1-2, 2.00 ERA). It should be interested to see if Salazar has made any adjustments after his last start in Detroit where he completely lost it in the fifth inning of a 7-5 defeat.

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(photo via Chuck Crow/The Plain Dealer)