Last night the Indians had to face one of the best pitchers in the game, Max Scherzer. Scherzer took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, but gave up three consecutive hits in that frame. The Indians scored twice and went on to beat the Washington Nationals, 3-1. Trevor Bauer went seven scoreless innings for the win.

It’s obviously good to win ANY game, but when you can beat someone as dominating as Scherzer, that’s got to do wonders for a team’s morale. On Wednesday afternoon, the two teams face off again at Nationals Park. Josh Tomlin will pitch for the Indians, and Gio Gonzalez will pitch for the Nationals.

In his last six starts, Tomlin (11-4, 3.81 ERA) has alternated between decent outings and lousy outings. In his last start, at Yankee Stadium, he gave up seven earned runs in 4 2/3 innings, and was tagged with the loss. Of course, if the pattern holds, he’ll pitch very well today. I’d be remiss if I failed to point out that Tomlin, a lifetime .600 hitter, leads the 2016 Indians with a batting average of .667. But I’d be even more remiss if I failed to note that he has two hits in three at-bats this season, and six hits in ten at-bats since 2010. Small sample sizes, indeed.

Gonzalez (7-9, 4.13 ERA), on the other hand, has pitched very well in his last six starts. He got the loss in two of them, but that was more a function of lack of run support than a reflection on his work, and should remind us all that the win stat for pitchers is virtually useless. He recently allowed two earned runs in 5 1/3 innings against the Indians at Progressive Field, but got no decision, and the Indians went on to beat the Nationals, 7-6.

Team note: According to Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com, Tribe manager Terry Francona is expected to be back on the job today after complaining of chest pains before yesterday’s game. Bench coach Brad Mills filled in for Francona yesterday.

Here are today’s starting lineups, brought to you as always by Rice Krispies, the official breakfast cereal of The Rolling Stones:

 

As always, your comments are welcome and appreciated.

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