Going into today’s game, Trevor Bauer did not yet have a career win on the road. The bad news is, he still doesn’t have one. The good news is, the Indians won Wednesday’s afternoon game (and the three-game series) against the Dodgers, with Bryan Shaw picking up the win.
Bauer allowed only two hits and struck out two during the first four innings. Plus, Ryan Raburn slammed a two-run homer in the fop of the 4th to give the Indians a 2-0 lead. Things were looking up, then came the 5th inning. With two outs and Miguel Rojas on first, Dodgers pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu doubled (yeah, the pitcher doubled). Rojas scored. Then Bauer walked Dee Gordon and A.J. Ellis load the bases. An Andrew Ethier single made it 3-2.
The Tribe had their own big inning in the 8th. Fuzzy Dodger reliever Brian Wilson walked Michael Brantley and Carlos Santana, which is always a great way for your team to start an inning. Brantley scored on a David Murphy single that advanced Murphy to 2nd and Santana to 3rd when Dodgers left fielder Matt Kemp threw to The Man Who Wasn’t There (aka Dodgers 3rd baseman Juan Uribe). That was one of three Dodger errors on the day. Feels kind of nice to see somebody else mess up once in a while. Wilson intentionally walked Lonnie Chisenhall (yeah, give the man some respect. I’m also still wondering why the guy hitting .344 is batting 7th.). Then Mike Aviles took his turn being the hero, with a well-placed single that scored Santana and Murphy, making the score 5-3.
The Dodgers answered in the bottom of the 8th with a solo home run from Scott Van Slyke off of Scott Atchison, making the score 5-4. And that’s where it would stay. Cody Allen caused the standard save situation jitters, walking Hanley Ramirez and then giving up a double to Andre Ethier. Matt Kemp’s day didn’t get any better, as he flied out to Michael Brantley to end the game.
The Indians are off tomorrow and then begin a 10-day homestand against the Royals, Yankees, and White Sox. Central division foes abound. Get out to the ballpark.
Shame the Tribe couldn’t tack on a few insurance runs off Perez
A decent .500 road trip. This next homestand will probably decide it for the Tribe on whether they will be buyers or sellers this year. 7-3 would give them a winning record at the break. 6-4 would put them at .500. Anything less and the honchos might decide this isn’t our year. Personally, I don’t think it’s our year anyway. Not enough starting pitching and too many bad years and long slumps from the lineup denizens. We haven’t talked about it much, but Jason Kipnis looks like a shell of himself out there.
Yes, yes, and yes.