Cleveland Sports Forum

DP cleans bases. Then another ground out. To the bottom half.

It's now 2nd longest game in Chase Field history.

They brought Mark Lowe in and he gives up the lead and the game.

It was fun while it lasted.

9-8 Snakes

First time I got to see the Tribe on TV tonight. Bad outcome... good game to watch.

I figured that Carrasco was in the for duration. Pinch-hitting made sense if the PH wasn't Corey Kluber.
Carrasco sits in the bullpen waiting for xtra innings to be the last man standing; putting in Lowe was a bad idea; even he had made it through the 14th he's not good for long work. Good news about Lowe is that I am sure he's the guy who's dropped to make room for McAllister.

I am getting the feeling that whoever is making decisions about using the bullpen is giving too many too few batters we may get burned out.

I am not happy with the role Carrasco has been assigned which seems to be solely long man in reserve for extra inning games. I understand the advantage of having a long man available late but he's been pitching too well to be reserved for those infrequent situations. Shaw is burning out with his heavy workload. Axford did fan 2 good hitters with the bases loaded yesterday but is totally unreliable. Crockett is either suffering from early overuse or perhaps simply hitters are learning what to expect from him.

I'm glad I didn't stay up for all of that game. Another frustrating loss where they had multiple chances to win.

Cleveland Indians suffer brutal loss to Arizona Diamondbacks: DMan's Report, Game 77


CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Indians played the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first of a two-game series Tuesday. Here is a capsule look from The Plain Dealer reporter Dennis Manoloff:

Game: 77.

Opponent: Arizona Diamondbacks.

Location: Chase Field, Phoenix, Ariz.

Time of day: Night.

Time elapsed: 5 hours, 32 minutes.

Attendance: 20,945.

Result: Diamondbacks 9, Indians 8 (14). Box score

Records: Diamondbacks 33-47, Indians 37-40.

Scoreboard watch: The Indians fell to 6.0 games behind first-place Detroit (41-32) in the AL Central. The Tigers defeated the Rangers in Texas.

Slumping: The Indians have lost four straight and five of six.

Something had to give: The Indians, one of Major League Baseball's worst road teams, faced the Diamondbacks, one of MLB's worst home teams.

The Diamondbacks improved to 15-29 at home; the Indians slipped to 14-25 on the road.

The Lowe down: The game ended when Aaron Hill singled off Mark Lowe to drive in Gerardo Parra from third with one out in the 14th.

Parra led off with a single to right off Lowe, the Tribe's 10th pitcher. Parra stole second and advanced to third on Paul Goldschmidt's fly to deep center. Miguel Montero was intentionally walked and moved to second on a wild pitch.

Hill hit the game's 513th pitch.

Swing and a miss: The Indians lost despite:

Playing one of the MLB's worst teams -- at home or otherwise.

Holding that bad team's best player, Goldschmidt, to 1-for-7 with one RBI and a boatload left on base.

Eight runs.
14 hits.
4-1 lead after 1 1/2.
5-2 lead after three.
8-6 lead after 10 1/2.

Pop the clutch: The Indians went 4-for-16 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12. The Diamondbacks were 7-for-24 with RISP and stranded 19.

Dichotomy at the top: The game came down to the performances of each club's top two hitters in the order.

Arizona's Ender Inciarte and Parra combined to go 9-for-14 with two RBI, four runs and two walks.

Cleveland's Michael Bourn and Asdrubal Cabrera combined to go 1-for-13 with one run, one walk and six strikeouts.

Leadoff fizzle: Bourn went 1-for-7 with four strikeouts, the last of which was called with runners on second and third and one out in the 12th. Cabrera grounded to the pitcher.

Bourn is hitting .263 with a .311 on-base percentage. He has 63 strikeouts, 17 walks and six steals.

El Oso en fuego: Indians first baseman Carlos Santana went 4-for-5 with one double, one homer, two RBI, two runs and two walks.

Santana walked in the second inning, singled in the third, singled in the fifth, doubled in the seventh, walked in the ninth, hit a two-run homer in the 11th and struck out in the 13th.

The strikeout snapped Santana's streak of plate appearances having reached safely at seven, dating to Sunday's game against Detroit.

Clear head: Since returning from the concussion list June 6, Santana is 23-for-62 (.371) with six homers, 14 RBI, 10 runs and 12 walks. He has raised his average from .159 to .214.

Grab a bat: Corey Kluber, the Tribe's starter Wednesday night, pinch-hit with two outs in the 14th. He grounded to second.

Far from masterful: Indians right-hander Justin Masterson allowed five runs on seven hits in four-plus innings of a no-decision. He walked four and struck out six.

Masterson threw more balls (46) than strikes (45).

Masterson's road woes continued; he entered with a 1-4 record and 6.20 ERA in eight starts.

Masterson did not appear comfortable from the outset, thanks to the usual suspects: mechanics out of whack; lack of quality pitches; command issues; lower velocity. He again struggled against lefties. His best pitch was a slider to righties.

With one out in the fourth inning, Masterson walked Wade Miley, Arizona's starting pitcher. Miley eventually scored as part of a two-run half that pulled the Diamondbacks to within 5-4.

Masterson opened the fifth with a four-pitch walk to Martin Prado. Indians manager Terry Francona signaled for lefty Kyle Crockett. Prado eventually scored the run that tied the score, 5-5.

All of Masterson's walks scored.

Grist for the mill: Plenty of interesting elements were contained in the stretch from the bottom of the first through the top of the third. Here is a batter-by-batter recap:

Bottom of first vs. Masterson:

1. Left-handed Inciarte walked in six pitches. Inciarte entered Tuesday with a .202 average and .227 on-base percentage.

2. Lefty Parra singled to center. Parra climbed out of an 0-2 hole and got the hit in a 2-2 count. Parra was 4-for-33 in his previous eight games. Lefties continue to give Masterson trouble.

3. Goldschmidt grounded into a fielder's choice at second. Masterson made a quality pitch to Goldschmidt. Cabrera threw to second baseman Jason Kipnis, whose relay should have resulted in a double play -- except Santana failed to hold the bag. Santana's lack of height hurt (he's listed at 5-11); so, too, his footwork. Bottom line: Santana needed to hold the bag. No error was charged, but it adds to the long list of plays not made by Cleveland.

The Indians challenged first-base umpire Chad Fairchild's call even though, based on replays, they did not appear to have a legitimate chance for a reversal. The call stood.

4. Lefty Montero doubled to left-center to drive in Inciarte. Good piece of hitting by Montero.

5. Aaron Hill struck out swinging in five pitches. Masterson handled a righty.

6. Prado struck out swinging in three pitches. Masterson handled a righty and stranded Goldschmidt. The botched double play did not cost Masterson a run. The Diamondbacks led, 1-0.

Top of second vs. Miley:

7. Santana walked in five pitches. Santana was just getting warmed up.

8. Kipnis singled to center. The grounder bounced off diving Arizona second baseman Hill and into center field. Kipnis snapped an 0-for-11.

9. Yan Gomes singled to left to drive in Santana. The 1-1 pitch was low, which is Gomes' hot zone. Gomes extended his hitting streak to six; the RBI was his first during the streak.

10. Lonnie Chisenhall tripled to center to drive in Kipnis and Gomes. Chisenhall kept the hands back on a 1-2 low breaking pitch for his first triple of the season. Good piece of hitting by Chisenhall much more than bad pitch by Miley.

11. Ryan Raburn hit a sacrifice fly to center. Miley left a full-count pitch up in the zone. Last season, Raburn would have crushed it, but in a practical sense, he did his job.

12. Masterson grounded to third*. Masterson hit a roller near the line and beat Prado's throw to first -- except Fairchild butchered the call*. Because the Indians already were out of challenges, the call stood.

13. Bourn struck out swinging. The Indians led, 4-1.

Bottom of second vs. Masterson:

14. Lefty David Peralta walked in four pitches. Too easy for the No. 7 batter in this lineup.

15. Lefty Didi Gregorius singled to right, Peralta stopping at second. Another lefty, another runner.

16. Lefty Miley struck out swinging. Miley, the first lefty retired by Masterson, was unable to get the bunt down.

17. Inciarte singled to center to drive in Peralta. Inciarte can't be allowed to beat a pitcher of Masterson's resume, but he did. Peralta took advantage of Bourn's below-average arm to make it easily.

18. Parra lined to center.

19. Goldschmidt struck out looking. Masterson saved his best pitches for Goldschmidt; this one was a full-count sinker on the outside corner. The Diamondbacks trailed, 4-2.

Top of third vs. Miley:

20. Cabrera flied out to center on the first pitch.

21. Michael Brantley singled to center. Brantley did a good job with a 1-2 pitch.

22. Santana singled to left-center, Brantley stopping at second. Santana's swing from the right side is compact and relatively smooth.

23. Kipnis reached on FC/E-6. Kipnis grounded to Gregorious, who bobbled the ball and threw late to first. Even with the bobble, Gregorious had out Santana at second but opted not to go there.

24. Gomes hit first-pitch sacrifice fly to right.

25. Chisenhall grounded into a fielder's choice. Indians led, 5-2.

Nothing doing: The Indians loaded the bases with none out in the fifth but did not score.

Brantley led off with a walk. Santana and Kipnis singled. Arizona manager Kirk Gibson hooked Miley for lefty Joe Thatcher, who shouldn't make hitters nervous. But Thatcher sawed through Gomes (swinging strikeout), Chisenhall (pop to short) and Raburn (pop to second).

Thatcher began a run by four Diamondbacks relievers that held the Indians to one hit and zero runs through the the eighth. Closer Addison Reed ended the dominance.

Reed gave up an RBI single to Gomes with two outs in the ninth to tie the score, 6-6.

Bourn's stats, to repeat: He has 63 strikeouts, 17 walks and six steals.

he should be batting 9th which I mentioned a couple weeks ago. A leadoff hitter's job is to get on base. He doesn't do that. He has a grand total of 13 extra base hits in 270 plate appearances. So not just is his on base avg only 311; he has (extra base hits plus steals, assuming he's never stolen third) only put himself in scoring position a remarkable 19 times in 311 appearances. Basically his offense just flat out stinks, the batting average is almost exactly his career average but the On Base Pct is 23 points below and his get in scoring position avg of .062 compares to career average of about .128.
Tyler Naquin should be pressing him for CF job in 2016.

civ ollilavad wrote:Bourn's stats, to repeat: He has 63 strikeouts, 17 walks and six steals.

he should be batting 9th which I mentioned a couple weeks ago. A leadoff hitter's job is to get on base. He doesn't do that. He has a grand total of 13 extra base hits in 270 plate appearances. So not just is his on base avg only 311; he has (extra base hits plus steals, assuming he's never stolen third) only put himself in scoring position a remarkable 19 times in 311 appearances. Basically his offense just flat out stinks, the batting average is almost exactly his career average but the On Base Pct is 23 points below and his get in scoring position avg of .062 compares to career average of about .128.
Tyler Naquin should be pressing him for CF job in 2016.

And in his first 2 at bats tonight he hit back to back triples....both scored.

Had bases loaded with 2 outs for Cabrerra in the 4th, but he popped out. Kluber got a 2 out single with one on, then Bourn walked.

It's 3-0 going into the top of the 5th.

Make that 4-0 on a Brantley leadoff homer to start the 5th.

Glad to see the offense is still on tonight. Thankfully, our starting pitching is a LOT better than last night!

civ ollilavad wrote:Bourn's stats, to repeat: He has 63 strikeouts, 17 walks and six steals.

he should be batting 9th which I mentioned a couple weeks ago. A leadoff hitter's job is to get on base. He doesn't do that. He has a grand total of 13 extra base hits in 270 plate appearances. So not just is his on base avg only 311; he has (extra base hits plus steals, assuming he's never stolen third) only put himself in scoring position a remarkable 19 times in 311 appearances. Basically his offense just flat out stinks, the batting average is almost exactly his career average but the On Base Pct is 23 points below and his get in scoring position avg of .062 compares to career average of about .128.
Tyler Naquin should be pressing him for CF job in 2016.

2 triples, a walk and a single tonight!

Now they are saying that Masterson is hurting, hence his poor performance.

We won a game!