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May 6, 2015Finally, Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona unveiled what many fans of the have been waiting for all season. No, Francisco Lindor is still in Columbus where he should be (for now). Yes, Nick Swisher making his 2015 debut, serving as a gauge of how healthy or productive he can be for the team. In fact, Nick’s promotion off of the DL meant that Tyler Holt returned to Columbus, and Michael Brantley would need to start in center field with Ryan Raburn in right and Brandon Moss in left1. The item that Tito unveiled was the lineup for Tuesday that included hitting the best hitters on the team batting near the top, and the struggling hitters on the team batting near the bottom. It was absolutely refreshing to see Carlos Santana and his 2015 season .404 OBP make his sixth career appearance as the second batter in the Indians lineup2. In fact, of the first four hitters, only Jason Kipnis had an OBP under .400 going into the Tuesday night game and he has a slash line of .348/.438/.610 since April 24. Of course, it did not seem to matter on a night when the Indians still struggled to hit and lost 5-3 to the Kansas City Royals.
The last time Danny Salazar pitched, it was against these same Kansas City Royals. The Dominican native had some issues April 29 in giving up four runs in six innings pitched, but he struck out seven batters, while the Indians hitters and bullpen, adding four more strike outs to total eleven for the game, ensured he earned his third win in his third 2015 start. His counterpart, Jason Vargas, last pitched in the Indians versus Royals matchup on April 27. The left-handed pitcher struggled with command walking five batters, but he limited the damage to two runs before giving way to the dominant Royals bullpen that registered the win for him.
Key Moments of the Game
1st Inning:
Carlos Santana took well to his new home in the second spot by accepting a walk. Afterwards, Michael Brantley rewarded his patience.
All was well and good in the top half of the inning, but Danny Salazar must have watched Major League before the game because he was all Rick Vaughn without the black horn rims to start the game. He allowed a hard single to Alex Gordon to start the game and hit Kendrys Morales to put himself into a dangerous situation with Eric Hosmer at the plate. Hosmer took advantage with a home run erasing the goodwill from the top half of the inning and putting the Indians in an early hole.
Salazar Cruise Control:
For the second time in a row, Danny struggled in the first inning against the Royals and then proceeded to control the game. After the Eric Hosmer home run in the first, the Royals went 1-for-12. The Royals only scored in the fifth due to finally taking advantage of the complete lack of range in the Indians defense. Dyson was able to use his speed (and lack of OF speed) to get a triple and Alex Gordon hit one past a range-limited Jason Kipnis to score the run.
On the night, Salazar was not good enough to get his fourth win of the season, but he managed to pitch seven innings, while striking out nine and kept the Indians in the game throughout despite the lack of hitting.
Indians Floundering Offense:
Dr. Smooth and Lonnie Baseball hit home runs. Jason Kipnis managed a hit as did Brandon Moss. And, the Indians managed two more walks (Santana, Brantley). That output of six plate appearances ending with the hitter reaching base was the entire offense for the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night.
Really, it was best summarized after Jason Kipnis hit a lead-off double in the sixth inning. Carlos Santana hit a 3-0 count weak grounder to Moustakas at third, Michael Brantley popped out foul to Moustakas and Ryan Raburn ended the inning by mixing it up with a ground out to Christian Colon at shortstop.
Bro at the Bat
The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Tribe Nine that day;
The score stood five to three, with but one inning more to play,
And then when Brantley flied to left, and Murphy was out just the same,
A sickly silence fell upon Indians fans watching the game.
It seemed destined that the Indians would once again lose to the AL best;
But a few clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast,
They thought, if only Swisher could get but a whack at that –
They’d put up even money, now, with the Bro at the bat.
It was the Bro’s first game back from injury to both his knees;
Perhaps, he could return and out of hopelessness a victory squeeze,
They so wanted to once again see the Swish wicked smile,
And have him laugh his dastardly laugh that opposing fans thought vile.
But, Moss was first and on the day had yet to reach first base;
Until this at bat when off to right a single he would lace,
That brought up Swish in all his glory, with Indians fans tense,
Perhaps this at bat would be the start of turning around a season that didn’t make sense.
And now Wade Davis took the ball and hurtled it through the air;
And the Bro took a mighty swing only to see in the catcher’s glove the ball get there,
Swish watched the next two float by, ball one and ball two,
And on that second ball, to second base Brandon Moss flew.
With first base open, the Bro assumed a free pass he would be given;
But, Wade grooved one perhaps outside, but the umpire’s zone was rather forgiving,
Now, with two strikes, Swish’s eyes came into focus,
To win this game now would require some 2013 hocus pocus.
Davis geared up for one last pitch, the Bro leaned back with his bat;
Swish was destined to have the ball hit on the part of the wood that is fat,
The swing was full, the swing was hard, there would not be any doubt,
Except, of course, on Tuesday, the mighty Bro struck out.
Key Moment Scorecard:
Kansas City Royals: 3
Cleveland Indians: 1
Old Friends; Help or Haunt
No trick or treatin’ today kids.
The Nine
Jason Kipnis: 1-for-4.
Carlos Santana: Good old Carlos set the game up with a walk. He did nothing at the plate afterwards but made an outstanding scoop in the dirt for an out in the seventh on Paulo Orlando.
Michael Brantley: Not only does the good doctor know how to hit, but he knows how to celebrate.
Middle of Order: Raburn-Murphy / Moss / Swisher / Aviles = 1-for-15 with four strike outs. Not a good look for the middle of the order.
Lonnie Chisenhall: Lonnie Baseball hit a home run and did well in the field outside of one throw in the dirt. Even that throw was decent enough for Carlos to dig out of the dirt and still get the out.
Roberto Perez: He looked lost at the plate and Francona gave Bourn an at bat to try to get something going in his place. That did not work either.
The Arms
Danny Salazar: Still hitting 97 mph on the gun in the seventh inning and over 100 pitches.
Nick Hagadone: He came in and did not have great control and Francona had Bryan Shaw warming up quickly. Unfortunately, he left Nick in for Eric Hosmer who laced an insurance run adding double to right.
Bryan Shaw: It was too late by the time he came in, but he did his job getting Salvador Perez to line out.
12 Comments
Glad to see Santana batting second. Hard to win when four through seven go 1 for 15.
Our pitchers are still last in the league with a .346 BABIP
This team has some phenomenal starting pitching… sometimes.
This team has a lights-out bullpen… sometimes.
This team can score double-digits and make it look easy… sometimes.
This defense can… well no, they can’t… ever.
If we could start aligning a few of those sometimes we might start to win some games.
Smart move by Francona moving Santana who walks better then anyone in the lineup.
Life of a mid-payroll team!
It’s just surprising that an organization that seems to pride itself on having a bunch of smart guys has previously ignored that their high OBP guy should be higher in the order to increase the probability that they’ll score urns.
Nick Swisher – Bro for Four… again.
More like low payroll.
Wait until that two-story bar revenue pours in!!!
Are you saying that the 2015 Indians are driving their fans to drink?
More a function of baseball itself
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