Ball Played: Indians lose series as Red Sox show off power

The Cleveland Indians could not have asked for a better setup to win on Wednesday unless John Danks himself was the opposing starting pitcher. Still, right-handed starter Joe Kelly was a close replica as he entered the game with a 5.69 ERA for the Boston Red Sox, and he had failed to finish even a paltry six innings in 12 of his 18 starts.

The Indians also welcomed Jason Kipnis and Giovanny Urshela back to the lineup and the infield, while Lonnie Chisenhall’s recent hot bat would face the right-hander after sitting out on Tuesday. Plus, they were starting the defending AL Cy Young Award winner, Corey Kluber, who happened to be coming directly off of two straight dominant complete games that led his name to start creeping up 2015 Cy Young candidate lists. Finally, the Red Sox remained as one of only two American League teams with a worse record than the Indians¹ . Despite all of that, the Cleveland Indians fell into an early deficit and could not climb out of it as they lost to the Red Sox 6-4 at Fenway Park.

Not everything was in the Tribe’s favor: there was one random trend to which they ended up contributing by the end of the night.

Cy Young winners have made 11 starts vs. Red Sox, are 0-7, 5.51. Elevator blues

— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) August 20, 2015

Keys of the Game

Indians starting outfield:

I am not sure what is stranger: That the Opening Day starting shortstop (Jose Ramirez) and third baseman (Lonnie Chisenhall) were starting in left and right field respectively last night, or the fact that Chisenhall has been the best right field defender that the Indians have put out there since perhaps Franklin Gutierrez² . Chisenhall almost even pulled a trick out of Kenny Lofton’s repertoire when he reached over the wall for David Ortiz’s home run, though he could not quite reach it. Add in the relatively unknown Abraham Almonte as the current everyday starting center fielder and the Indians overhaul of the outfield has been quite an experience this season.

Jose Ramirez was making his MLB outfield debut in front of the Green Monster, so there were some concerns that he could misplay a ball there. However, he immediately demonstrated good communication skills with Abraham Almonte while tracking down a fly ball from Alejandro De Aza to record the Red Sox’ first out, and he acquitted himself well the rest of the night as well.

Also, it was not the Indians outfield that lost track of how many outs there were and tossed a ball into the crowd when there were only two away. allowing a baserunner (Abraham Almonte) to advance from first to third base. I mean, relief pitcher Alexi Ogando was pausing so much before each pitch that I thought the game was glitching, but fielders still need to keep track of the outs. Don’t ever change Rusney Castillo, don’t ever change.

Offensive offense:

Sure, it took Jackie Bradley Jr. straight up robbing Francisco Lindor in the first inning of a hit, but the Cleveland Indians were no-hit through exactly three and one third innings in all three games of this series against the Red Sox. Every.Single.Game. Lindor, once again, broke up the early no-hit bid with a single, which Michael Brantley followed with a single of his own. Unfortunately, Carlos Santana grounded into an easy double play to end the inning. The next time the Indians would come to bat, they would trail 6-0.

Lonnie Chisenhall broke through with the first run of the game in the most Indians way possible. After an error by Josh Rutledge allowed the Indians to put men on the corners with no outs in the fifth inning, Abraham Almonte grounded into a double play. The Red Sox gladly traded Chisenhall crossing the plate for two outs as they were already up 6-0 by that point in the game. The Indians threatened to continue a two-out rally when Urshela and Ramirez got on base and advanced into scoring position on a Joe Kelly wild pitch, but Jason Kipnis struck out as part of his 0-for-5 evening (with three strikeouts).

Yan Gomes had a chance to be the hero in the sixth inning with Brantley on second, Chisenhall on first, and two outs. He struck out. Thankfully, he would get another opportunity to come through later in the game.

About that defending the Cy Young Award talk:

First, the good news. Corey Kluber struck out nine batters in just six innings of work, including strikeout number 200 for the 2015 season (he currently has 202 strikeouts and only 35 walks). Giving up six hits and a walk is not ideal for a short outing, but it usually would not be completely terrible either.

Except: four of the six hits that Kluber gave up were home runs. He gave up back-to-back home runs to David Ortiz (career home run No. 492) and Travis Shaw in the second inning. Then, he gave up back-to-back home runs to Jackie Bradley Jr. and Ryan Hanigan in the fourth. All six runs that the Red Sox scored were courtesy of those home runs.

Indians.com writer Jordan Bastian reported after the game that Kluber was not worried about his performance on the night. “They hit two popups that accounted for four runs,” Kluber said. “Other than that, it was pretty good.” It is likely good that he can move past the game, and Fenway’s weird field dimensions certainly did not aid him.

However, it is also the responsibility of the pitcher to account for the ballpark. Kluber understands this. “That’s part of playing to your environment, I guess,” he said after the game. “They’re not home runs in most places, but that doesn’t really matter. They were home runs here.”

The comeback that wasn’t:
It appeared that the game was going to end quickly and quietly for the Indians as they trailed 6-1 in the eighth inning with two outs and Brantley sitting on first base after one of his three hits on the night. Terry Francona then decided to pinch hit for Chisenhall despite Lonnie Baseball reaching base in all three of his previous plate appearances. It worked, as Jerry Sands walked, setting up Yan Gomes again. This time, Gomes “popped up” a pitch into right field that was hit just far enough to clear the outfield wall for a three-run home run.

So, the Indians entered the ninth inning down 6-4. If you read the box score play-by-play, you will see that they were retired 1-2-3 to end the game. But the Indians put up a bit more of a fight than that box score would indicate. Urshela led off the inning and it took Rusney Castillo making up for his earlier ditziness with a nice grab in the one foot of foul territory in right field before the wall. Then, Pablo Sandoval made an athletic diving stop on a Jose Ramirez ground ball. Somehow, Sandoval bounced back to his feet and made the throw to first base to beat Jose Ramirez to the bag. Sandoval would also record the last out on Kipnis, but that play was much more routine.

Key Scorecard:
Boston Red Sox: 3
Cleveland Indians: 1

The Numbers

There are some good things and some bad things that came out of this game, here they are in numerical format

Four home runs, really?
Corey Kluber had never given up four home runs in any of his 96 MLB starts. In fact, he had given up three home runs only once (versus the Detroit Tigers, September 1, 2014).

In 25 starts in 2015, Kluber had given up as many as two home runs just once (versus the Seattle Mariners, May 28). In those 96 career starts, he had given up two or more home runs a mere eight times, and only twice in the past two seasons (59 starts).

Bottom third of the order

After initially hitting well with the Tribe, and even with a hit on Wednesday, Abraham Almonte has slumped. He is hitting 2-for-17 (plus one walk) over his last five starts.
With a hit on Wednesday, Jose Ramirez is now 2-for-24 (plus two walks) over his last six starts.
With an 0-for-3 Wednesday, Giovanny Urshela is 3-for-29 (plus five walks) over his last eight starts.

When those in the bottom third of your lineup are almost guaranteed outs, it makes it that much harder for the team to create any big innings. Yan Gomes also going 3-for-19 (plus two walks) in the six-hole during this stretch doesn’t help the issue.

Statistics from baseball-reference.com unless otherwise noted.

1. The Oakland Athletics remain the worst team in the American League despite scoring more runs over the course of the season than they have given up. [↩]
2. Shin-Soo Choo had a nice arm, but suspect routes to the ball, while Ezequiel Carrera’s rubber band arm disqualifies him. [↩]