The Dominican Summer League Indians/Brewers combo squad has continued on with their particular brand of bad baseball as they lost eight of the 11 games played during the last two weeks to maintain their hold on last place in the DSL North. Now 11-25, only the Nationals (9-23) have fewer wins and a worse winning percent in the entire DSL.
To start this run, on July 1st the Indians/Brewers lost, but managed ten hits on offense, two by Indians infielder Junior Sanquintin. The following game, it was Henyer Gomez who was the hero on the losing side with four hits in the 9-8 loss against Rays 2. Jose Baez, who was returned to the Indians/Brewers after a short run with the DSL Indians, had two hits and two walks as well on July 2nd.
The Indians/Brewers set a new record for futility the next day against the Rays 2 as they allowed 20 runs, breaking their previous high of 17 allowed in a single game. They have now allowed ten or more runs in eight games. While most of the blame for this game falls on the Brewers side, David Flores did allow his first two earned runs of the season. The left handed reliever from Venezuela has been one of the high points of this team this season and still has a 0.98 ERA in 18.1 innings this season after throwing three more scoreless innings on July 11th. He has just six walks allowed to 19 strike outs this year.
While they lost again on July 5th against Cubs 1, the Indians had quite a few solid performances. Of the 11 hits total, Gomez and Sanquintin each had two and Baez had another. On the mound, Yuery Gervacio managed to throw six innings without allowing an earned run, a seemingly impossible feat. While he wasn’t as solid his last time out (7/12), the left handed Gervacio has allowed two or fewer runs in all but his first start this year (five in a row) and now has a 3.51 ERA and 23 strike outs to 11 walks in 25.2 innings.
After being outscored by the Pirates 8-24 in a two game set (no notable performances), the Indians/Brewers began a two game winning streak against the Red Sox two to end the week. I’ve already mentioned the three scoreless innings by Flores in relief in the first of these games, but Alan Meza also helped out with two hits. While he is listed as an infielder, Meza has played just one game in the infield this season, playing all three outfield positions fairly equally instead. Offensively, he has been dreadful, but this did mark his second two hit game of the year. He is now hitting .164/.282/.205.
Gomez was the top Tribe performer in the final game of the week, hitting safely two more times. The tiny, 16 year old middle infielder doesn’t have a batting line that would scare anyone either, but has been heating up of late. Since July 1st, he has hit .289/.372/.316 compared to a .157/.293/.229 line prior to that. Not everyone can be Alexfri Planez at 16 and Gomez impressed me during extended spring. While the Indians/Brewers two game winning streak might not be sustainable, the recent success of Gomez should be.
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