The Aftermath: Three Takeaways from the Indians’ 9-0 Loss to Texas

The Cleveland Indians lost their third straight game, getting shutout 9-0 by the Texas Rangers and Cole Hamels.

The Cleveland Indians saw their woes continue on the current roadtrip, getting shutout 9-0 by the Texas Rangers on Thursday night at Globe Life Park in Arlington. It was the Tribe’s third loss in a row, dropping the club to 72-54 on the season, and shrinking their lead in the American League Central to 4.5 games over the Detroit Tigers.

Texas improved its AL-best record to 75-53 behind a near-flawless effort from starter Cole Hamels and an offense that took advantage of Cleveland’s defensive miscues and starter Josh Tomlin’s inability to keep the ball in the park.

The Rangers used two Indians’ errors and three-run home runs from Carlos Gomez and Adrian Beltre to chase Tomlin in the fifth inning. In all, the righty allowed eight runs, seven earned, on six hits and two walks in 4.1 innings, losing his fifth consecutive start.

An eighth inning solo homer by Rougned Odor off reliever Zach McAllister finished off the scoring on the night, and left the Tribe looking for answers as the team’s skid has encompassed all three facets of the game.

The lone bright spot for Cleveland was the two scoreless innings of relief thrown by rookie Mike Clevinger, who walked one and struck out three. We’ll have more regarding the Tribe’s starting rotation later today at Wahoo’s on First, but suffice it to say, Clevinger should figure prominently in the team’s plans for September.

Cole-Blooded

Hamels is one of the frontrunners for the AL Cy Young award in 2016, and showed off why on Thursday night. The big lefty faced just two batters over the minimum in tossing eight scoreless innings of two-hit ball. Hamels located his pitches accurately all night, striking out eight and not issuing a free pass, and at one point set down 19 in a row.

On the season, Hamels is now 14-4, with a 2.67 earned run average in 168.2 innings covering 26 starts, and is on pace at the age of 32 to set a career-best mark in ERA+. His 5.3 bWAR entering the night was already the top mark among pitchers in all of Major League Baseball, and will now notch upward once more.

Awful Offense

In the past four games, the Indians have managed to score just three runs. It is the first time the club has scored one or fewer in four straight games in over five years, and has been a total team effort. All three runs in that span came on solo home runs, and the team has actually failed to score before the sixth inning in five straight games dating back to the Toronto series last weekend.

Cleveland is still second in the AL in runs scored, but that position is becoming shakier by the day. Since the all-star break, the team is just 20-18, outscoring opponents by a slim margin of 183-179, and the pitching staff has put up an ERA approaching 4.50. With both aspects of the game going south at the same time, it’s not surprising the Indians are playing poorly.

Limit the Damage

The Tribe has now lost three in a row, but is the only team in MLB that has yet to have a four-game losing streak all season. Even the vaunted Cubs can’t make that claim. Cleveland has lost three in a row five times now, but has to this point always found a way to limit the damage.

The balm for the past four games may be found in the guy wearing No. 28 on the mound tomorrow: Corey Kluber. After a rocky first two months of the season, Kluber has been among the most dominant starters in the game since June 1st.

In that span, the right-hander is 9-2 with a 2.34 ERA, 26 walks, and 98 strikeouts in 96 innings of work. Kluber was roughed up in his one appearance against the Rangers this season, allowing six runs on eight hits in seven innings, but that start came at the end of May.

Next: Has Danny Salazar Become a Liability?

It’s been over a month since the Tribe lost a game Kluber started, and if they hope to keep their impressive run of avoiding losing streaks beyond three games alive, will need him to continue to pitch like the ace he has been for the past nearly three months.