7/4 Recap: Another Great Anderson Start Not Enough To Continue Streak

Player of the Game

Cody Anderson is now three starts into his MLB career and he is still yet to miss a step. In each game Anderson has pitched into the eighth and allowed one or fewer runs. Today, it was one run allowed, thanks to a Josh Harrison double followed by a Neil Walker single in the sixth, but otherwise he held the Pirates to just three other hits through eight innings. Anderson struck out four while on the mound, but also struck out in both of his at bats. He now holds a 0.76 ERA on the season and is fitting in very well with the Indians other four starters.

Feathers Up

Possibly because they are in the National League, the Pirates didn’t know better than to run on Yan Gomes, but they may have learned their lesson. With the game still scoreless in the fourth, Starling Marte attempted to steal second on the first pitch to Fracisco Cervelli and was gunned down by Gomes to end the inning. He has now caught 9 of 23 attempted base stealers this year, the 8th best rate among AL catchers with at least 20 attempts.

Feathers Down

While they have still reached base, both Jason Kipnis and Michael Brantley are hitless so far in this series. Kipnis was due for a bit of regression after two incredible months in a row, the two make up the bulk of the Indians offense when things are going poorly. Facing Jeff Locke today, things were going poorly as the power vacant Indians struggled to keep the ball in the air against the ground ball specialist. Giovanny Urshela did extend his hitting streak to 13 games, but the Indians had just two other hits, singles by Yan Gomes and Francisco Lindor.

Thanks to two double plays, the Indians didn’t even advance a runner into scoring position until Lindor hit his infield single with Kipnis on first in the ninth inning. Of course, the winning streak had to end at some point and there few ways more respectable to end one than in a 1-0 game against a team with a .575 winning percent.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 0 – Pittsburgh Pirates 1

On Deck: The Indians and Pirates will finish up their three game set with Pirates tomorrow at 1:35 PM in Pittsburgh, looking for the series win. Danny Salazar will try to keep the Indians current run of stellar pitching going against one of the best pitchers in the NL, Gerrit Cole.