Cody Allen had a ten minute stretch that served as an apt metaphor for the Tribe’s 2015 season.
Mere hours after the Indians’ closer finished the early morning with a clean 12th inning, Allen was called on again to nail down what was a 3-1 lead. The inning started perfectly with Allen handing Mike Trout his third strikeout of the day. Albert Pujols flared a seemingly innocuous dying quail with former Indian David Murphy flying out for the second out. Things were looking good for the Tribe to head home with a perfectly acceptable 4-3 road trip.
But as all of us know by now, the Indians have made it their season’s mission to continue to make life hard on themselves. Rarely does anything come easy, especially with the self-inflicted mistakes. There is a baseball saying that states that the 27th out is the hardest one to get. Today, Cody Allen proved that in typically stomach-churning fashion.
Following Murphy’s flyout, Allen’s command inexplicably vanished, where he would walk the next two batters, loading the bases. A base hit by CJ Cron would tie the game. Predictably, Allen would bounce a curveball that Roberto Perez couldn’t get a handle on. Allen, who was likely questioning his existence and his insignificance within the universe at this point, didn’t realize that pinch-runner Taylor Featherston was breaking towards home. By the time Allen had snapped back to reality, it was too late. Allen ended up a step behind on the tag.
Ballgame.
Allen’s outing spoiled another excellent outing by a Tribe starter. Danny Salazar went six strong innings giving up just one run (a Kole Calhoun solo shot) on three hits and striking out seven. Jose Ramirez drove home two, including his second homer on the year. Ryan Raburn also homered.
W: Cam Bedrosian (1-0); L: Cody Allen (1-4)
Thank Dog we have the Browns to… uh… never mind.
I’ll bet that was a long flight home. That was one game that should have been in the win column. The Angels were never in that game until 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th. It’s hammy’s fault. he said, “I bet the Angels will be glad to see the Tribe leave town!” Bam, the wheels fell off.