Ball Played: Surprise! Defense and ex-Tribe bats haunt Indians

The St. Louis Cardinals are the epitome of a well-run franchise¹ . It might be impossible to know if it is more imperative to draft the correct player or develop the player correctly, but the Cardinals have the best assembly line coming out of their farm system in MLB. Yadier Molina, Matt Adams, Kolten Wong, Matt Carpenter, and Jon Jay are five everyday starters that came from that fabled system. Jason Heyward was acquired in the 2014 offseason from the Atlanta Braves for Cardinal-developed pitcher Shelby Miller when St. Louis decided that they wanted an upgrade in right field from the oft-injured, also-Cardinal-developed Allen Craig. St. Louis even utilizes the prestige of their farm system to their advantage at times, as they turned Brett Wallace, Shane Peterson and Clayton Mortensen into Matt Holliday² . On Tuesday, all of those players helped the St. Louis Cardinals defeat Cleveland Indians 8-3.

[Related: Cleveland Indians match up to Mad Men]

Key Moments of the Game

Defensive Deficiencies:
Every single one of the Cardinals’ eight runs came with two outs. That is unfortunate in most games and St. Louis is getting lauded for coming through in the clutch today. However, those who tuned in to watch the game could easily see that the vast majority of those runs were only possible due to the complete lack of fundamental defense by the Indians. Those mistakes extended innings, and the Cardinals then took advantage.

Top of 2nd

Carlos Carrasco cruised through the first inning and started off the second by getting Jhonny Peralta to send a slow dribbler to the mound. However, Carrasco literally booted the ball³ to the third base side of the mound, putting the leadoff runner aboard. When Mark Reynolds came up and drove a hard single to Brandon Moss in right field, it was only due to the gift of an extra out that inning.

Top of 3rd / Top of 6th

Carlos Santana had a miserable night in the field. He was charged with an error in the third that allowed Matt Holliday to reach safely, and Mark Reynolds was gifted a hit by the scorekeeper when he hit a soft grounder to Lonnie Chisenhall, who made a slightly off target one-hop throw. The throw hit Carlos Santana’s glove, but Carlos had already closed his mitt and the ball bounced away. Fortunately for the Tribe, neither of these issues resulted in runs for St. Louis.

Top of 7th

It might be unfair to blame the defense for this inning, as Matt Carpenter and Jhonny Peralta both had good hits deep into the outfield off of Carrasco. However, neither hit was that hard and both seemed to be balls that an outfield with more range than David Murphy, Michael Brantley, and Brandon Moss would have tracked down.

Top of 8th

One of the season’s biggest disappointments has been the fall of Jose Ramirez. He was an elite defensive player the last two months of last season, whereas he has been an average defensive player this season. Meanwhile, his hitting has dropped to the point of embarrassment⁴ . He did not help his cause on Tuesday when Bryan Shaw retrieved a comebacker to the mound and delivered a perfect throw that should have started an inning-ending double play. Instead, Ramirez replicated the Santana play at first by closing his glove too soon and having the ball glance off of it. The gaffe effectively gave the Cardinals two extra outs, and they went on to score four more runs.

Missed Opportunities:
The Indians went 3-for-13 with RISP and left ten runners on base, while the Cardinals went 6-for-15 with RISP while leaving eight runners stranded.

Bottom of 1st

The Indians had a great chance to strike first when Carlos Santana and Michael Brantley both reached base in the first inning with only one out. However, Moss struck out (the first of three on the day for him), and Nick Swisher followed suit.

Bottom of 3rd

Again, the Indians had two runners on base (second and third) and the cleanup hitter at the plate. Again, Brandon Moss struck out.

Bottom of 5th

The Indians loaded the bases, this time with only one out, and had Michael Brantley and Brandon Moss coming to the plate. Both whiffed.

One Shining Inning:
The Indians finally broke through when Lance Lynn left the game after pitching six innings. Matt Belisle allowed Jose Ramirez to reach base, then Jason Kipnis knocked him in with his second double of the game. Brantley then knocked in Kipnis, and Terry Francona decided Brandon Moss had had enough and inserted Ryan Raburn, who promptly continued the spree of doubles to score Brantley. Swisher and Murphy ended the rally, but the team got within one run of the Cardinals and the momentum had swung, if only for a brief moment.

Key Moment Scorecard:
St. Louis Cardinals: 2
Cleveland Indians: 1

Old Friends; Help or Haunt

Jhonny Peralta: Sigh, of course Peralta would go 2-for-5 with two runs and a RBI. One of those hits was a gift by Carrasco, but it still counts. HAUNT

Mark Reynolds: Hot hand Reynolds was in full effect. 3-for-4 plus a walk, two RBIs and a run. His hits were not gifts; they were lasers. HAUNT

The Nine

Jason Kipnis: Continued to rake with a 3-for-4 performance plus a walk and including two doubles.

Carlos Santana: 2-for-5 does not look bad, but unfortunately, the other three at-bats ended in strikeouts, and at inopportune times. Still, the Indians’ problem is not with the first three hitters.

Michael Brantley: Another solid day at the ballpark, reaching base three times, registering a double, and knocking in a run.

Brandon Moss / Ryan Raburn: Moss looked terrible at the plate and many of his swings were far off from the pitches. Raburn continues to do his job when called upon.

Nick Swisher: A rough day for Swisher as he continues to look for his rhythm. His DL stint has put him behind, so we need to give him some time.

David Murphy: It makes me shake my head anytime I see his name in an outfield position, and when he goes 0-for-4, it makes it that much worse.

Lonnie Chisenhall: Solid day in the field, even the throw that was slightly off was on a play he was running full speed forward and slightly right, it was a good play. 0-for-4 with two strikeouts at the plate, though.

Roberto Perez: He matched Chisenhall at the plate, but did not make the mistakes behind it. He almost had a really nice pick-off play early, too.

Jose Ramirez: His play in the field ended any hopes of a win, which is unfortunate because he had a strong day at the plate. When he gets on base and turns the lineup over to the top three hitters, it gives the Indians a nice chance to have big innings with his speed to start things off.

The Arms

Carlos Carrasco: One of the defensive miscues was his own, and he gave up a ton more contact than usual. However, it is still difficult to not feel bad for a guy who pitched much better than his final line of 6.2 IP and four earned runs.

Marc Rzepcynski: Francona had the shift on Matt Adams, and Matt hit one right to where Jose Ramirez would have been stationed. Jose could only range hard to his right to stop the ball.

Bryan Shaw: He pitched relatively well and made a routine play that should have ended the eighth inning. It did not end that inning.

Nick Hagadone: Nick started the Cardinals scoring when he allowed Matt Carpenter to single in Jason Heyward in the eighth after he had struck out Kolton Wong.

Scott Atchison: The look of amused disgust on Atchison’s face when yet another Cardinal player named Matt (Holliday this time) hit a home run off him summed up the evening.

Ryan Webb: He got through a meaningless inning cleanly, but still nice to see him pitching well.

1. Sorry DeePagel [↩]
2. All of those prospects made it to MLB, but only Brett Wallace looks like he might turn into a useful player [↩]
3. Yes, Mr. Cleaveland, he actually kicked it with the underside of his foot. [↩]
4. OPS+ of 30 [↩]