Player of the Game
Josh Tomlin continues to be the greatest version of Josh Tomlin that is possible. Like usual, he allowed his solo home run (this time to Alex Rios in the 5th inning), but otherwise he gave up just three hits and one more run. He was able to pitch the complete game with just over 100 pitches and if his defense was as good as the Royals tonight, he would have allowed just the one run. Even with that, it was only worth a loss as the Indians offense couldn’t back him.
Feathers Up
With the entire Indians lineup looking lost, Francisco Lindor provided the most excitement with a double in his first at bat and a single in his second. He continues to impress both offensively and defensively (he made another excellent glove play tonight) and is now batting .311 on the season.
Feathers Down
Josh Tomlin looked like he was about to get out of the second inning without a runner allowed in the game to that point when Mike Moustakas hit a 3-1 pitch directly up. Yan Gomes never saw the ball, however, and it fell behind him. On the next pitch, Moustakas rocked a fastball off the wall in center field, again with the Indians fielder, this time Abraham Almonte, losing it in the “sun”. After a wild pitch moved him to third, a two out Salvador Perez single up the middle brought home the first run of the game.
Kris Medlin really didn’t have anything spectacular tonight, but his defense had more than enough. Medlin managed to throw 6.1 innings without a strike out, but still held the Tribe to just five hits and no runs. Particularly impressive on defense were Mike Moustakas, Ben Zobrist, Alcides Escobar, Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain who could make a highlight film from this game alone.
Stupid Managerial Move of the Game: Down by two in the ninth, the Indians had a great start to the inning when Lonnie Chisenhall and Gomes reached base with none out. Instead of allowing Jerry Sands to bat, Terry Francona decided to play for one run (while down two) and pinch hit Mike Aviles to sacrifice bunt. Aviles popped it up to the pitcher and even though Greg Holland dropped the ball, he was still able to get the out at third, effectively allowing Francona to give up the free out he was trying to give up. Holland has struggled much recently and his velocity is noticeably down. Rather than take advantage of the situation by trying to win the game, Francona managed his way into losing with Almonte fouling out and Giovanny Urshela striking out to end the game.
Awkward Stat of the Day: For the second game in a row, the Indians have been outdrawn by their AAA minor league affiliate, the Columbus Clippers. Yesterday, in the final game of the semi-finals and today in the first of the finals, the Clippers had the best of their parent club. Today the damage was 11,408 to 10,516 and yesterday it was 10,734 to 10,356. This may be unfair as the Clippers gave away those tickets for free, but at least there are 10,000+ interested Clippers fans still. By the way, the Clippers won thanks largely to Zach Walters and Audy Ciriaco.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 0 – Kansas City Royals 2
Scoreboard Watch: The Angels and Mariners got started late again tonight with Minnesota against Detroit (Tigers up 3-1) and the Rangers against the Astros (Rangers up 4-3) still in action. If the Rangers hold on, they will surpass the Astros for the West lead, giving the Indians a new team to chase for the Wild Card.
On Deck: In game three of four between KC and Cleveland, a pair of Danny’s will battle as Danny Duffy takes on Danny Salazar. The game will start at 7:10 PM on Wednesday night.
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