Cleveland Indians: Strikeouts loom large in Friday’s loss

The Cleveland Indians failed to muster much offense Friday night, and even putting the ball in play was a struggle for the entire lineup.

Cleveland Indians fans were feeling confident after the team pulled off an exciting series victory over the Houston Astros.

That confidence took a hit Friday night when the Indians dropped the series-opener against the Seattle Mariners, 3-1.

Mariners starter Ariel Miranda was coming off a three-inning outing in his last start, but was able to show up in Cleveland and shut down the Indians offense. He recorded seven strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings, allowing just one run on a Jose Ramirez home run. The bullpen came in and kept up the great work, combing for seven more strikeouts to finish the game.

It was yet another disappointing night on offense for the Indians, who can’t seem to piece together a dominant stretch of play on offense. The one-run performance wasted a great start from Carlos Carrasco, who went eight innings and allowed three runs on six hits.

Games like this are to be expected throughout the course of the season, but the lack of offense has become a common theme this April.

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But what stood out Friday was the 14 strikeouts, 10 of which came from just four players.

Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Ramirez each had three, while Jason Kipnis and Austin Jackson each had two.

Encarnacion stands out as the most disappointing among that group, as he already has 32 strikeouts in the first 22 games of the season. This wouldn’t be as much of a focus if his line was better than .205/.344/.372, or even if his power numbers were better. The go-to response is that it is still early, but averaging over a strikeout per game is not exactly efficient.

And if the team is going to strike out 14 times against the Mariners, what is going to happen against the Boston Red Sox? Or the Houston Astros later in a potential postseason matchup?

Next: Encarnacion and Gomes: The slow starters

Once again, it is early and games like this will happen. However, 14 strikeouts at home against a relatively average group of pitchers is a bit concerning.