Player of the Game
The Indians waited until the last possible moment to score tonight, very literally as there were two outs in the ninth inning before a run crossed the plate. When it did so, it was courtesy of Lonnie Chisenhall, who doubled home Francisco Lindor and Jason Kipnis who had singled to start the inning.
Feathers Up
After a rough first, Josh Tomlin pitched extremely well, allowing just three more hits while striking out eight in five shut out innings. For the entire game, however, the numbers don’t look as nice as he pitched six innings and allowed four runs on six hits. His final run allowed came against Pedro Alvarez who hit a solo home run, his only batter faced in the seventh inning. Even with the two home runs, Tomlin deserved a better fate as the Indians have averaged over five runs per game this year, but scored just two tonight.
Kyle Crockett pitched a scoreless inning tonight, his third straight scoreless outing since coming back from AAA Columbus. While the Indians have been open about a left handed reliever being their number one target at the trade deadline, Crockett would be a much longer term and less costly substitution. He has thrown 2.1 hitless innings with two strike outs since his return. Maybe instead they should focus on acquiring a catcher as the Tribe is dead last in offensive production at the position.
Feathers Down
A double play that wasn’t finished cost the Indians three runs in the first tonight as one scored on the play, then Mark Trumbo hit a two run home run immediately after. This put the Indians behind 3-0 in the first for the second night in a row, the other also thanks to a Trumbo home run.
While Carlos Santana was at least partially to blame for the Indians lack of offense last night, tonight it was the hitters after him. Santana reached in each of his first three at bats with two walks and a double, but never scored. The last of these three at bats was a walk, after which Jason Kipnis hit into a double play, the third inning in a row in which the Indians had given up two outs at once.
A little more on the side comment on searching for a catcher at the deadline. The offensive production measured by FanGraphs is a combination of many facets and had the Tribe’s catchers as a group being worth -32.4 runs compared to the average team coming into this game. The more tradition metrics back this up as well as they have batted .169/.219/.293 with 10 home runs, 32 runs scored and 39 RBI. These numbers are all from before tonight’s game, but they didn’t change much as Roberto Perez went 0 for 2 before being pulled for a pinch hitter who is batting .160 on the season, Abraham Almonte.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 2 – Baltimore Orioles 5
On Deck: The Indians and Orioles will wrap up their three game set at Camden Yards tomorrow at 1:35 PM. Corey Kluber will try salvage a win for the Tribe as Vance Worley looks for the sweep for Baltimore.
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