Over the first eight innings, the Cleveland Indians managed to gain and hold onto a narrow lead over the Detroit Tigers at Progressive Field on Tuesday. But as even the littlest child knows, major league baseball games take nine innings to play, and the Tigers rallied for three runs in the ninth to beat the Indians by a score of 4-2.

Making only his third major-league start, Tigers rookie pitcher Kyle Lobstein put the Tigers in the hole early on, giving up a first-inning single to Michael Brantley, followed by a home run from Carlos Santana. The homer, Santana’s 23rd of the season, gave the Indians a 2-0 lead. That was all the scoring the Indians would do. Lobstein went 5 1/3 innings, giving up only three more hits and three walks and striking out 10.

Indians starter Carlos Carrasco also went 5 1/3 innings and also struck out 10. He gave up plenty of hits, but worked his way out of trouble time and time again. His second inning looked like disaster was imminent, as he gave up singles to the first three hitters he faced, then walked the next batter to bring the score to 2-1. But Carrasco struck out the next two batters, then got the third out on an infield grounder to keep the score at 2-1.

And that’s how the score stayed until the top half of the ninth inning, when Indians manager Terry Francona brought closer Cody Allen in. Allen walked Torii Hunter to lead off the inning, then gave up a single to Miguel Cabrera. The next batter, former Indians player Victor Martinez, hit a fly to center for the first out. But J.D. Martinez followed with a no-doubt-about-it homer to center, giving the Tigers a 4-2 lead. The Indians were able to bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth, but they couldn’t score, and the Tigers won, 4-2.

Allen is only human, and this was only the second save he’s blown all season. He’s done a fine job in the closer role. But he’s appeared in a LOT of ballgames this season, 66 to be exact. It would be nice if the 2014 Indians were the kind of team which didn’t need to give the ball to their closer so often, but they’re not, and Francona will surely continue to go to Allen in save situations. As tight as the division race looks like it’s going to be, the Indians can’t afford to have Allen’s arm get dead on them, not if they hope to play any October baseball.

There weren’t many fans at the game—9,990, according to the Associated Press box score—and more than a few of those were Tigers fans who made the three-hour drive to support their team. It’s sad that more Indians fans didn’t show up at Progressive Field on a pleasant evening for a meaningful September game against a division rival, and it was sadder still to see the excitement and glee on the faces of the Tigers fans when Martinez hit the home run.

Since the Royals also won on Tuesday, the Indians lost ground to each of the two teams ahead of them in their division. The Tribe is currently 5.5 games out of first in the AL Central, and five games back in the race for the second AL wild card spot.

4 Comments

  • Peter says:

    that was a bad loss. following a bad loss. I have to think the fans have adjusted to the win loss cycle the tribe has played this year. Played good against KC, got pummeled by the Tigers in the opener and they stay home from there. This game could have easily been another blowout, but some timely pitching saved them. But don’t forget that the pitching got us in the trouble i the first place. It was feast or famine for the tigers.

    The offense needs to show up. Bourn looks like a deer in the headlights at the plate, but what options do we have? I think Brantley and Gomes are the only untouchables on the team (not including pitchers). The rest are replaceable. Ouch!

  • Kevin says:

    This loss really pissed me off.

  • Derek says:

    No MLB team is going to win scoring 1-2 runs. Look at the past few weeks, how many 1 or 2 run games have we been in that we lost or forced into extras? Can’t hold these little leads for 7 innings. Hopefully tonight we can return the favor.

    • LittleChicago42 says:

      Guarantee these words – or something of the ilk – will be uttered by the Indians front office this offseason:

      “We
      felt that we did not need to make any drastic changes to our lineup,
      because we feel that the collection of players we currently have can
      produce a better than average offensive output. We are banking on many
      of our players rebounding from their poorer-than-usual production last
      year…”