Cleveland Indians Fall to Royals 7-0 in Cody Anderson’s Return

Cleveland Indians Fall to Royals 7-0 in Anderson’s Return

The Cleveland Indians fell to the Kansas City Royals this afternoon 7-0. In his return to the club, Cody Anderson struggle early and the bats never got going as Royals’ starter Ian Kennedy stymied the Tribe bats.

Recalled earlier in the day, Anderson allowed a three-run home run to Royals cleanup hitter Kendrys Morales in the first inning, continuing a troubling trend as he’s now allowed seven home runs in just 25 innings.  However, after that rough first inning Anderson appeared to settle down, keeping the Royals off the board until the fifth when he allowed an RBI double to Jarrod Dyson, making it 4-0 Royals. Anderson would leave the game after the fifth inning and just 69 pitches due to cramping in his legs.

The Tribe bullpen, which had looked better of late, wasn’t able to keep the deficit at four as Jeff Manship really struggled in the eighth. Manship, who hasn’t allowed a run all year, didn’t retire a batter and was charged with three runs. The combination of Kyle Crockett, Joba Chamberlain, and Dan Otero pitched four innings between them, allowing zero runs on just two hits. 

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Offensively the Indians had a day to forget as they were shutout by the trio of Kennedy, Kelvin Herrera, and Joakim Soria. The Tribe mustered just six hits on the afternoon and only had a couple real scoring opportunities. In the first inning the Indians had runners on runners on the corners with one out; however, Mike Napoli struck out and Carlos Santana (batting fifth again) flew out to left field ending the inning.

In the sixth inning the Indians had probably their best chance to get back in the game. Down 4-0, the Tribe got a leadoff single from Juan Uribe but a double play by Davis erased him. However, the Indians mounted a threat with two outs, loading the bases for Santana who grounded out to first base. The only other scoring threat came in the eighth inning when after a one-out double by Jason Kipnis put runners on second and third, Francisco Lindor lined into a double play ending any chances the Tribe had at scoring.

The only other noteworthy part of today’s game was that Lonnie Chisenhall got his first big league action in centerfield when he replaced Rajai Davis there in the ninth inning. In a bout of musical chairs, Davis moved to left field while starting left fielder Jose Ramirez moved to second base. Even Chris Gimenez got some action in the ninth replacing Yan Gomes behind the plate.

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The Indians and Royals will go at it again in the rubber-match tomorrow afternoon.  The Tribe will send Josh Tomlin to the hill while the Royals will counter with veteran Edinson Volquez. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 pm.  The Indians will then head to Houston for a short three-game road trip before heading back home.