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April 22, 2015The last pitch Carlos Carrasco threw before Tuesday night came off of Melky Cabrera’s bat, deflected off his glove, and hit him in the jaw. Somehow, less than a week later, Carrasco took to the mound again to face the same Chicago White Sox team. It is impossible to determine the emotional and mental state that Carlos might be feeling as he took the mound, but it is likely safe to assume that it was not just a regular Tuesday night turn for the popular 2015 breakout candidate who led the Cleveland Indians to a 6-2 win over their AL Central foes.
The Indians offense hoped to supply Carlos with better support than they have been giving starting pitchers thus far this season. Going into Tuesday night’s game here are their numbers and rank in some of the more significant categories in MLB.
Considering the plan appeared to be an above average offensive team that could live with certain defensive deficiencies (notably at RF, 3B, and 2B), it is troublesome to finish in the lower quartile of MLB in almost all significant categories especially considering that includes the National League that does not use a Designated Hitter. It has seemed in some games that the Indians hitters have done even worse with RISP, however the numbers show that they are doing no worse other than a drop in power in those situations.
Of course, the season is young and the sample sizes are small, but the early season results have not been promising.
On Tuesday, the Indians hitters seemed to have an edict to swing for the fences. The overall hitting struggled while White Sox starter Hector Noesi was in the game. However, Carlos Santana and David Murphy hit home runs, and Jason Kipnis and Murphy hit long fly balls that barely stayed inside the fence. Ryan Raburn continued the long ball barrage when he pinch hit for David Murphy against newly promoted Carlos Rodon and hit a ball off the top of the fence that was somehow ruled a ground rule double. It would help if all eleven of the Indians 2015 home runs were not solo shots, but scoring runs in any way is welcome right now.
Rodon struggled in his first appearance as the Indians offense took advantage of the lefty getting on base six times in just over two innings of work from him scoring two earned runs, while also knocking in the two inherited runners from Noesi in the sixth inning.
In the other half innings, Carlos Carrasco was in control. He recorded five strikeouts in the first two innings, and finished with eight strikeouts in five innings of work. At that point, the bullpen paraded out six relievers as Terry Francona did not want this game to slip away, and the Indians pitchers ended up striking out fifteen batters during the win.
Key Moments of the Game
Bottom of 1st inning, Melky Cabrera at the plate: Carlos Carrasco seemed calm and focused, but I was full of nerves. Carlos dispatched with Melky with a strike out. Maybe he relaxed too much after that strike out because the Jose Abreu home run he gave up next was the only time Carrasco did not look dominant on the night. Of course, he then calmly struck out Adam LaRoche to end the first inning with three strike outs.
Top of 2nd: This situation sounds familiar. The Indians were in the middle of a stretch that saw 11 of 12 batters record outs, but the one hit was a home run. Thank you, Carlos Santana.
Bottom of 3rd, runners on 1st and 2nd, 0 outs: Carlos Carrasco calmly induced Melky Cabrera into a double play, then struck out Jose Abreu.
Top of 4th, runner on 2nd, 2 outs: Brandon Moss struck out swinging, but the only reason the runner was on 2nd was because Carlos Santana stole it.
Top of 5th: Lonnie Chisenhall, Roberto Perez, and Jose Ramirez would have terrible at bats this inning and make Hector Noesi look great. However, it was only after David Murphy managed to hit the ball about ten feet further than his first at bat and hit it over the fence. Thank you, David Murphy
Top of 6th, runners on 1st and 2nd, 1 out: Too often this season, the Indians have squandered these RISP situations. However, this time, the Indians moved the runners over, loaded the bases on a Brandon Moss walk, then pinch-hitter Ryan Raburn fouled off three pitches with a full count before knocking in two runs.
Top of 7th, runners on 1st and 2nd, 0 outs: Again, the Indians were determined to take advantage of a good situation. Michael Bourn and Jason Kipnis sacrificed to squeeze in an insurance run, then Michael Brantley knocked in another.
Bottom of 8th, runners on 1st and 3rd, 2 outs: The only time the White Sox threatened the entire night was with Zach McAllister on the mound. He could not get himself out of the jam, so Francona wisely removed him. Nick Hagadone did his job, but was undone by a rare Jose Ramirez error. So, Bryan Shaw was needed to close the door on the inning and the game.
Key Moment Scorecard:
Chicago White Sox: 1
Cleveland Indians: 5
Tie: 2 (1st and 8th White Sox scored runs, but were relative wins for Indians too so we’ll call them ties)
Old Friends; Help or Haunt
Zach Putnam, J.B. Shuck, and Matt Albers watched this game like the rest of us.
The Nine
Michael Bourn: He had a really nice stop of a line drive in center field and was able to accurately throw to second from his rear, which was nice. But, at the plate, the nicest thing to say about his hitting was that he was able to sacrifice the runners over once. Even when he walked, he was picked off getting too far away from first.
Jason Kipnis: He continues to mirror Bourn’s struggles.
Michael Brantley: A much better approach at the plate from Monday night though he still struggled to get good contact his first two times up, but that approach was eventually rewarded when he was able to get two hits later in the game.
Carlos Santana: He is so patient. Sometimes it means he relies on the pitcher to make a mistake, but, when they do, he clubs it.
Brandon Moss: Another game, another poor day at the plate. David Murphy takes more flak, but Murphy has at least had some really solid at bats this season. Moss attempts to have the same patient approach of Santana, but then will swing wildly at some bad pitches.
David Murphy: He had a great day. He has struggled this season, so it was good to see him pick out his pitches and drive them well.
Ryan Raburn: Despite Murphy’s strong night, Francona played the match up game when Rodon came in. Ryan rewarded him by continuing his early season hot streak.
Lonnie Chisenhall: He continued to look lost at the plate.
Roberto Perez: He had a terrible day hitting, but managed to score a run when he let Carlos Rodon beat himself.
Jose Ramirez: Repeat from Roberto Perez.
The Arms
Carlos Carrasco: I already discussed him enough, but he really just had a great game and showed no signs that he struggled being back on the mound, which is great.
Scott Atchison: He came in, quickly did his job and had the biggest smile of the night as he handed the ball to Francona.
Marc Rzepczynski: Scrabble was able to record three outs, including two strike outs on just eight pitches.
Zach McAllister: As mentioned, he was the only pitcher who struggled for the Indians. He just did not seem to be able to locate his pitches as everything rode up, which allowed the White Sox to get better contact.
Nick Hagadone: The ever rare zero innings pitched, zero walks, zero hits performance (we can think Jose Ramirez for the error).
Bryan Shaw: Unlike Scrabble, it took him six pitches to record his one out, but it was an important strike out in the game.
Cody Allen: A night after throwing 30 pitches, he threw another 18. This time, he had no issues as he struck out two and worked a perfect ninth in a non-save situation.
15 Comments
One thing to note, Bourn caught stealing for the second time this season. He was going on first movement, and guessed wrong, but still a CS. He is now 1-3. Needs to be smarter on the bases.
GOTTA GET KLUBER A WIN TODAY!!!!
Yeah, I am not sure how the official scorer ruled that a caught stealing as it sure looked like the pick-off was on. Either way, Michael Bourn has been so underwhelming stealing bases his entire Tribe tenure.
Aren’t pickoffs ruled as CS if the play is not made at the original bag? He would have gotten a steal if safe (he almost was actually)
Aha. Yes, if the runner even makes an advance towards the next base, it is rules a CS. That is even if he is tagged out going back towards the original base. Doesn’t seem to make sense, but that is the official rule. Good to know. Thanks.
note: I would make the pickoff v. CS distinction based on the pitcher. If the pitcher initiates the play, then it is a pickoff to me, but I’m not in charge of such things.
BTW…after tomorrow, we have tribe baseball for 36 of the next 38 days after starting with 14 in 18 days!
Well, he was “caught stealing”
Check this out haha:
“If he is picked off a base, but makes it to the next base, whether directly, or by successfully surviving a run down play, he also gets credit for a stolen base
Note: as unfair as this is, the steal is charged to the catcher. i.e., his percentage of runners thrown out goes down, even though he was not involved on that play”
https://baseballscoring.wordpress.com/site-index/stolen-bases/
Is this good or bad?
Oh…they played last night? At least they won.
Yes….yes it is
Precisely!
No kidding.
Looks like you can forget about that happening.
Offense is being offensive once again today with a big zero in runs department.
Sigh. Indians.