Tribe Hands Oakland Gift-Wrapped Win

May 17, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians third baseman Carlos Santana (41) reacts after a failed double play during the seventh inning against the Oakland Athletics at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

More Tribe Errors Lead to 6-2 Loss

The Tribe’s sloppy play continued to hurt them on Saturday, as three errors (and what should have been a fourth) helped Oakland score six runs with two outs.  Scott Kazmir’s ejection in the second inning didn’t phase the A’s pitching staff, who held the Indians to just two runs.  Whenever the Tribe had opportunities to score, they wasted them by grounding into inning-ending double plays.  Defense, as I stated earlier, was awful.  The Indians certainly don’t look like a playoff team the way they’re playing now.

Key Innings

Top of the 3^rd, Indians lead 1-0

After Nick Punto lined out, Coco Crisp smacked a double to get himself into scoring position.  After John Jaso struck out swinging, it looked like Josh Tomlin might get out of the inning, but Josh Donaldson managed to drive him home with a two out RBI single.  Brandon Moss responded by driving a homer to right-center field to put the A’s up 3-0.  After Yoenis Cespedes reached on a throwing error by Carlos Santana, Jed Lowrie flied out to finally end the inning.

Top of the 7^th, Indians trail 2-3

Josh Reddick grounded out.  Nick Punto singled.  Then Coco Crisp grounded into what should have been an inning-ending double play, but rookie first baseman Jesus Aguilar dropped the ball and allowed Crisp to reach safely.  Then the inning unraveled as Marc Rzepczynski walked Alberto Callaspo and was replaced by Brian Shaw.  Shaw promptly gave up a triple to Josh Donaldson and a double to Brandon Moss before Yoenis Cespedes finally flied out to end a very ugly inning.

The Positives

There weren’t many.  Josh Tomlin had another quality start and John Axford quietly got another 1-2-3 inning, but…

The Negatives

…the defense was sloppy, the offense was embarrassing, and the bullpen couldn’t limit the damage.  Jesus Aguilar looked completely overmatched at the plate again and showed no signs that he can be a major league hitter.  Swisher and Santana continue to struggle, and it’s really stunting the offense.  Even with the A’s number two starter ejected in the second inning, the Tribe couldn’t get anything going offensively.

Check It Out

-The Indians have now lost three in a row, and have been outscored 21-5

-Another squirrel (the same squirrel?) made an appearance in the outfield during the third inning

-The last time Jerry Layne called the balls and strikes for Scott Kazmir was during the 2009 American League Championship Series, where he also blew a few balls and strikes calls.  It was Kazmir’s last postseason appearance before falling out of affiliated baseball for almost two years.

-Scott Kazmir had this to say after the game:  “I wanted to apologize to the trash can.  It did nothing wrong.  I was just frustrated”.