Player of the Game
Zach McAllister did give up two runs when the Astros put together three hits in the third, but even so, he made his best start since getting called up for a double header on July 19th. He struck out five in the first two innings and six total over his six inning outing.

Feathers Up
Milestone Alert: For fans of round numbers, Michael Brantley hit his 40th double of the season in the third inning against Collin McHugh. He has now surpassed his career high numbers in home runs, steals, doubles, RBI, runs and hits and still has two weeks left to play. If he can hit one more home run, he will be the third Indians hitter to hit 20 home runs, 40 doubles and steal 20 bases (matching Roberto Alomar and Grady Sizemore).

Feathers Down
The only run the Indians were able to score today was a gift, coming after Marc Krauss was unable to catch the ball at first on a routine grounder to start the game. Michael Bourn made it to second on the play, was bunted to third and scored on a Carlos Santana two out single. After that, the Indians hit safely just six more times, all with two outs and never more than one in an inning. With no walks and just one extra base hit, this made things difficult to score, even against one of the worst teams in baseball.

The Indians came into last week with a legitimate shot at going to the postseason this year and remained so until Sunday afternoon. With the sweep by Detroit, the only hopes left for the Tribe were in winning every single game for the rest of the season, barring what a few other contenders did. With this loss to the Astros, Cleveland has now lost four in a row at the time they most needed to break off a four (or more) in a row winning streak. While other contenders are also currently mired in slumps, like the Yankees and Blue Jays, this most likely will just pave the way for hot teams like the Tigers and Mariners.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 1 – Houston Astros 3

Wild Card Magic #: 9

On Deck: The Indians will attempt to break their losing streak and exact some revenge on the Astros in game two of four, tomorrow night at 8:10 PM.