To say that Chris Perez had an eventful Tuesday would be an understatement.

Hours before nearly imploding yet again in a crucial game for the Tribe, one of the most ridiculous off-field stories of the season has come to a resolution.

Perez was found guilty after withdrawing his not guilty plea in exchange for a no-contest plea towards the misdemeanor drug charge in which shipments were addressed to the Perez’ dog, Brody, on June 19. Perez was fined $250, a year of probation and was ordered to speak to Rocky River High School students about the dangers of drugs.

A case against Melanie Perez is reportedly still pending. Should she pass a mandatory drug test, she will be ordered to pay only a $50 fine.

There is still no word on whether Brody will choose to press further charges against his owners.

So with Weedgate off of the Indians’ minds, and the health of Justin Masterson clearly on it, the Indians turned to Ubaldo Jimenez (6 INN/4 H/4 SO/2 BB), who continued his sterling stretch. Cody Allen and Joe Smith would each throw a scoreless inning as well; bobbing and weaving through a tough Baltimore lineup.

The Indians were buoyed by a pair of sacrifice-flies from Asdrubal Cabrera and a clutch (and ultimately game-winning) two-run double by Yan Gomes off of Chris Tillman (5.1 INN/4 ER/5 H/3 SO/5 BB). It looked like it would’ve been plenty on a night where the Orioles’ big guns appeared toothless.

But bad Perez showed up on a night where he didn’t appear to have it, as he promptly gave up a pair of singles that set the stage for sudden Tribe-killer Nate McLouth to blast a ball into the right field bleachers.

At this point, Perez was essentially a dead man walking to the those in the park and watching at home. Boos (probably rightfully this time) rained down from a sparse crowd of 9,962, which sounded more like 30,000 in this moment.

For what it’s worth, McLouth’s homer seemed to wake Perez up as he proceeded to strike out both Brian Roberts and Manny Machado. Perez finished cleaning up his mess by (miraculously?) getting the American League’s homerun leader in Chris Davis to meekly ground out into the shift to end the game.

The win brought the Indians to within three games out of the second Wild Card with the Rays and Athletics playing as I type this, so the Indians could be up to a 2.5-game deficit by morning. And if you’re a dreamer still hoping for the division, the Red Sox squeezed by Max Scherzer and the Tigers, 2-1. Despite Perez’ struggles, the worst thing to happen tonight was the White Sox’ bullpen melting down against the Yankees, turning a 4-1 lead into a 6-4 loss, allowing New York to pick up a game as well.

The Tribe will attempt to win the series tomorrow night in the Battle of the Zachs: McAllister for the Indians and Britton for the Orioles.

W: Ubaldo Jimenez (10-9); L. Chris Tillman (15-5)

15 Comments

  • Seattle Stu says:

    Nobody circles the wagons with a 4 run lead like Chris Perez….nice work ganja boy.

  • Seattle Stu says:

    at this point i’ll take jack lemmon from glengarry glen ross as our closer…..

  • Gvl Steve says:

    The scoreboard watching is a little ridiculous, but it’s cool that we’re close enough that some people are into it. The size of the crowd (9900!) suggests, however, that those people are in the minority and most of the fans aren’t feeling it right now. Fortunately, this team plays its best in front of an empty house and its worst with big crowds, so maybe staying home is just what the team needs to get hot.

  • The Doctor says:

    question: if we were to make the one game playoff and are leading said game in the 9th by a single run, is there a single person who has watched a tribe game this year that would trust perez to close out the game? i contend there is not.

  • medfest says:

    I was at the game and 9962 is being generous. There were 38 people(I counted) in the bleachers watching a MLB game for ten bucks.

    Jimenez looked the most in control that he has all season.Tillman pitched really well til he suddenly lost command and the Indians offense got to him.
    Allen was a bit shaky as was Smith,but Perez came in and just started grooving pitches,it was downright scary,especially given it was the bottom of the order.He faces the top of the Orioles order and strikes out two out of three, go figure.

    • Sean Porter says:

      If there was a market out there that I felt could support a MLB team, I would be seriously concerned that when the Indians lease with the city/park was up, they’d be a candidate to relocate.

      I think it’s painfully obvious that nothing – right or wrong – that the Dolans can or will do will matter. The only way we’ll see decent attendance numbers again is if the Dolans sell.

      • Drew says:

        Or make the playoffs. Clearly, Cleveland is a football town with fair-weather baseball fans.

        • Sean Porter says:

          Honestly, I don’t even think that would really do much, unless they made the playoffs the next year AGAIN. Maybe then, you’d see a jump.

          This reminds me of the Browns playoff team in ’94. They went 11-5 that season, but actually struggled to sell out the playoff game vs the Patriots because the fans generally despised Belichick, and to a lesser extent, Modell.

          I really, really wish Dan Gilbert could buy the Tribe. Not so much to get rid of the Dolans (oh, that’s part of it of course), but for a fresh beginning.

          • medfest says:

            If the Dolans

          • medfest says:

            If the Dolans sold the team the fans would just come up with other excuses not to go.

            To say this is a football town is a fallacy as well.The only reason people go to Browns games is that they’ve spent thousands of dollars in seat licensing fees.The only reason the games aren’t blacked out is because the team buys the unsold tickets and papers the house.

            I worked security at every Browns home game from 1983 to 1991 and other than the Steelers every year,game I can count the sell outs on my two hands.I worked a play-off game against Houston that had Kosar at QB and 64000+ showed up.This is also the town where the NFL and the Browns were suing bar owners for showing home games on satellite.Does that sound like a great football town?

            One thing we’re good at in Cleveland is revisionist history that’s for sure,being sports fans,not so much.

            Clevelanders attend events,they aren’t sports fans.Opening day is an event and it sells out.
            NFL games are events(more so than any other sport)so they get decent crowds for teams that suck.
            Cavs games with LeBron were events.
            The new casino opens and people wait in line eight hours to get in!!!
            When they had 455 games in a row sold out at Jacobs Field it’s because games were an event.No real baseball fan would buy tickets(in December no less) for the third deck in the outfield to watch the Tribe play the Royals on a freezing cold April night,but someone who wants to say they went to an event will.

            Fifty three years and I finally figured this out.Cleveland is a lousy sports town.

  • The Doctor says:

    since the post above is threaded to the point where i can’t reply any further, i’m replying here with a separate post.

    i’ve always hated the “people don’t come because of the dolans” excuse. it’s a lousy one and i don’t believe it for a moment. fans, and people who want to attend a event/experience, will go to the games even if stalin owns the team.

    i just find it impossible to believe there’s really people sitting at home saying to themselves, “boy, i really love the indians, but i just can’t stand to go to a game and give the dolans any money!”.

    if these people actually exist, they are fools because i assume if they love the team they’re watching it on TV or buying merchandise – and guess what, that means you’re still supporting the dolans!