Cleveland Indians Fall to Red Sox as Offense, Bauer Struggle

The Cleveland Indians fell to the Boston Red Sox this evening 9-1 as the offense seemingly disappeared overnight and the pitching struggled most of the day.  The loss was snaps a five-game win streak for the Indians and drops them to 22-18 on the season. The Red Sox meanwhile are now 26-17.

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Tribe starter Trevor Bauer worked a pair of scoreless innings before running into trouble in the 3rd. The Red Sox got five straight hits and scored three runs, giving the Red Sox an early 3-0 lead. They tacked on a fourth run against Bauer in the 4th inning a solo home run to Mookie Betts. On the afternoon, Bauer went five innings, allowing eight hits, four runs, and a pair of walks. Maybe most odd about Bauer’s start was that he struck out zero.

The Tribe’s bullpen was unfortunately unable to keep it just a four-run game as they allowed five runs in the 7th inning. After Jeff Manship worked a scoreless 6th inning, Kyle Crockett and Joba Chamberlain combined to allow all five runs in the 7th inning. Crockett was tagged for three runs in just 1/3 of an inning, allowing two hits and a walk. Chamberlain nearly got out of the inning with no runs allowed but a mental error by Tribe third baseman Juan Uribe on a double play ball extended the inning. Instead of turning the double play, Uribe threw home with the bases loaded, getting the out at the plate, but only that out. After walking in a run, Betts hit his second home run of the evening for the Red Sox, this time a game sealing grand slam to make it 9-0 Boston.

While the pitching sure didn’t do their part today, the offense was possibly even more at fault as they got just two hits on the evening. Red Sox starter Joe Kelly, fresh off the disabled list, had a no-hitter thru 6 2/3 innings before allowing a double to Juan Uribe on pitch 104.  That remained the only hit for the Indians until Carlos Santana hit a solo home run with two outs in the 9th, spoiling the shutout for the Red Sox. The only other time the Indians came close to scoring was in the 5th inning when they had the bases loaded thanks to a trio of walks by Kelly; however, Chris Gimenez grounded out to the pitcher ending the threat.

Next: Dan Otero, a Bullpen Weapon

The Indians and Red Sox will go back at it tomorrow afternoon in the rubber match, with first pitch at 1:35 pm. The Indians will send out Danny Salazar, looking to continue his blazing hot start. The Red Sox will counter with former Tiger Rick Porcello, who is also off to a nice start for Boston this year. After the game the Indians will head to Chicago for a four-game series versus the White Sox. The Indians also announced today that Cody Anderson will get called up as the 26th man for Monday’s doubleheader and get the start along with Mike Clevinger.