Player of the Game
Scott Atchison not only pitched a nice 1.1 innings with no runs and just one single allowed, but he helped out a couple of his teammates as well. He finished out the sixth for Mark Lowe, retiring Nelson Cruz to strand two runners, then pitched the seventh as well. In the seventh, Lonnie Chisenhall committed an error on a hard play, but Atchison helped him out too, inducing an inning ending double play. His 1.52 POG score was the second lowest winning score on the season (Michael Brantley 1.50 on 4/22). Combined with Lowe and Josh Outman, the bullpen didn’t allow a run over the final three innings.
Feathers Up
The Indians scored first again with a couple of sacrifice flies in the first inning. The first three batters of the game reached to load the bases, after which Lonnie Chisenhall hit a sacrifice fly to deep center to score Michael Bourn from third. The RBI was his sixth in his last six games and ninth on the season. On the play, Carlos Santana was able to move to third, which was important since he was able to score on Nick Swisher’s sacrifice fly to right.
Feathers Down
The Indians rarely hit and run and what happened today is likely a reason why. David Murphy reached base to start the fifth with Justin Sellers coming up. With the hit and run on, Sellers swung and missed at a pitch outside of the strike zone, but Murphy didn’t go. After a couple pick off throws to first, Murphy did go for second on the next pitch, but Sellers took the outside offering, leaving Murphy helpless as he was caught stealing. Sellers then struck out looking, wasting a base runner and an at bat all at once. The next two batters in the inning reached, so Murphy would have likely scored had Sellers been able to get him to second.
Trevor Bauer may be an ace of the future, but for the present, he still has a lot to learn. The Indians were looking for Bauer to go six innings today or at least five, but he wasn’t able to get out of the fifth. After walking three and striking out eight to give him a pitch count near 100 coming into the fifth, Bauer gave up solo home runs to Manny Machado and Nelson Cruz to give the Orioles a two run lead. He had issues all game with control, especially leaving the ball to high in the strike zone, but he had managed to limit the damage to two runs prior to the fifth. He definitely showed how talented he is, but until he can get a little more control, he will not be a Major League quality starter.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 – Baltimore Orioles 4
On Deck: The Indians will head to Chicago to take on the White Sox with a special 2:10 PM Memorial Day start time.
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