The Aftermath: Three Takeaways from the Indians’ 3-0 Loss to Chicago

The Cleveland Indians fell to the Chicago White Sox in the final regular season game at Progressive Field in 2016, but still saw their magic number to clinch a division title shrink.

The celebration will have to wait at least one more day. The Cleveland Indians dropped their final home game of the regular season to the Chicago White on Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field by a score of 3-0.

With a loss by Detroit to Kansas City, the Tribe’s magic number to clinch the American League Central Division championship now stands at one, and with a four-game series against the Tigers beginning on Monday, the long and short of things is that the next Cleveland win will do the job.

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For the second straight game, the White Sox got solid pitching and the Indians seemed a bit listless at the plate. Lefty Carlos Rodon gave Chicago eight innings of shutout ball, yielding just two hits and tying a career-high with 11 strikeouts. The former first round pick had both his two- and four-seam fastballs and his slider working, and Cleveland’s hitters were mostly defenseless.

It wasn’t all bad for the Indians, though, as Josh Tomlin turned in his third consecutive quality start since returning to the rotation. The right-hander tossed 6.2 innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on five hits, and was the victim of some sloppy defense and the BABIP gods.

So the AL Central was not clinched at home, but unless the Tribe loses all seven remaining games, and the Tigers win all seven of theirs, the champagne will be popped at some point this week.

Reinvigorated

It’s been beaten to death, but the injuries to Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco make Tomlin among the most important members of Cleveland’s team for the postseason. After an atrocious August that led to his demotion from the starting rotation, the Little Cowboy’s performance in September is a much-needed good sign for the Indians.

In 19.3 innings this month, Tomlin has given up a mere three earned runs (1.40 ERA), scattered 15 hits, issued not a single walk, and, perhaps most importantly, has kept the ball in the ballpark. After giving up 10 home runs in August, and 14 total since the all-star break, his ability to pitch to contact without allowing a big fly has been huge.

Close Play at the Plate

The game was still just 1-0 in the top of the seventh when a close play at home plate turned the tide in the game. With one out and the bases loaded, Tomlin was able to get Sox second baseman Carlos Sanchez to hit a short-ish fly ball to center field, which Rajai Davis caught coming in.

J.B. Shuck tagged from third to try to score and Davis’ throw, on the fly, was on the money, but when the tag was applied by catcher Chris Gimenez, the contact with Shuck jarred the ball loose.

The Tribe was shutout on this day, so one run probably didn’t matter. But the momentum of the game shifted after that play, and Cleveland seemed resigned to their fate.

Play to Win?

Terry Francona is a 16-year major league manager who makes millions of dollars, and his track record speaks for itself. That said, there were a few puzzling moves made on Sunday that appeared tentative in a game in which the team had a chance to clinch a division title.

The first of these came in the bottom of the fifth inning, when with two runners on base and nobody out, Gimenez was called on to lay down a sacrifice bunt and move both runners into scoring position.

This author’s feelings about bunting aside, it was a curious move because Michael Martinez, not exactly prolific at the plate, was the on-deck hitter. True to form, he hit a short fly into right field that wasn’t deep enough to score the runner, and one batter later, the threat was over.

Aside from the question of the bunt, why not pinch hit for Martinez there? Or pinch hit for Gimenez with someone more likely to drive in a run? It was the best chance the Tribe had to score all game, and it was flat-out squandered.

The second eyebrow-raising move was leaving Tomlin in the ballgame once runners got on base in the sixth. The run scored by Shuck and the rest of the inning leading up to it can hardly be blamed on Tomlin, but with a full complement of the big four bullpen arms (Dan Otero, Bryan Shaw, Andrew Miller, and Cody Allen) rested and available, why he was not relieved sooner was strange.

Next: Tribe Can Clinch AL Central in Detroit

At the end of the day, Cleveland still won 53 games at home this season, the second-most in Jacobs’ Field/Progressive Field history, and is potentially one game away from a division title. But being so good at home makes the race for the best record in the AL that much more important, and the Indians’ chances of that took a big hit in a game that felt like the team, from the top down, was lacking urgency.