Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

Josh Tomlin had a strong outing on Saturday, allowing 1 ER on 3 hits, striking out 3 and walking 0 over 7 IP.  He got a no-decision, but his good performance allowed the Indians to come from behind and win 3-1.

The Indians have struggled to score runs on this road trip, and Saturday’s game against the Kansas City Royals was no exception.  Royals starter Jason Vargas kept the Tribe’s hitters completely off balance, much as all lefties have so far this season.  While the Indians were not able to get to Vargas, with two outs in the eighth inning they finally broke through against KC’s bullpen.  It looked as if Josh Tomlin would end up the tough luck loser for much of the game, but the Indians pulled out a 3-1 win in the end.

For me, this was one of those weird games where I was so annoyed by the time the Indians mounted their comeback, it resulted in a type of angry joy.  Like Francisco Lindor when he hit the game-winning grand-slam against the Rangers, while still angry about his defensive miscues from earlier in the game.  It was a “YES!” moment, but also kind of an “ABOUT TIME!” moment.  There was a bit of relief involved too, because a loss against the Royals would take the Indians to 1-4 on this road trip.  Potentially being swept by a team that has the second worst record in baseball, all because you couldn’t generate even a small amount of offense, would be bad.  I don’t even care that it’s May; you can’t expect the Royals to be this bad all season and you need to hit them while you can.

The Indians did not even have a runner get past second base until the seventh inning.  In fact, they only had two runners get past first base to that point, when there were runners on first and second with two outs in the second and third innings.  The Indians had runners on second and third with two outs in the seventh, but Alex Gordon made a fantastic diving play on a Carlos Santana fly ball, easily saving two runs.  It looked like the Royals would manage to dance their way out of trouble in the eighth inning as well, after Jose Ramirez struck out with runners on first and third and only one out.   But Jason Kipnis came through with a clutch single, scoring Michael Brantley to tie the game at one.

Royals closer Kelvin Herrera got two quick outs in the top of the ninth, and it looked like the Indians would have to take this game to extra innings if they wanted to take home a win.  But Carlos Santana jumped on a Herrera pitch for a home run to right center, which gave the Indians a 2-1 lead.  Francisco Lindor followed with a solo shot of his own, and the Indians now had a two-run cushion for Cody Allen in the bottom of the inning.  Things got a bit dicey after Allen walked Mike Moustakas and gave up a single to Lorenzo Cain with just one out.  However, Allen was able to retire Eric Hosmer and Drew Butera to earn his eighth save of the season.

The one player I’ve yet to mention is Josh Tomlin, but I don’t want that to minimize his contribution to Saturday’s game.  Tomlin kept the Royals hitters off balance, and after 7 innings he had thrown just 76 pitches.  His only major mistakes came in the fourth inning, when Lorenzo Cain doubled with one out and Eric Hosmer followed with an RBI single to give the Royals a 1-0 lead.  Tomlin quickly escaped further damage by getting Salvador Perez to ground into a double play.  It looked for a while like those two small errors would lead to a loss for Tomlin, but fortunately the offense was able to pick him up late in the game.

While the offense did annoy me for seven innings today, there were definitely some overall positives.  I thought Yan Gomes had some solid at-bats (he’s looked better of late) – like when he walked to lead off the top of the fifth inning.  Gomes laid off two borderline outside pitches that I’ve seen him flail at multiple times so far in the young 2017 season.  Josh Tomlin gave a strong performance, a stark difference from his early April outings.  It should be mentioned that the Royals have really struggled at the plate this season, so that may have played a factor in Tomlin’s sharp performance today.  In the end, a win is a win and Tomlin allowed just 1 ER on 3 hits, walking none and striking out three.

Mike Clevinger is up from Columbus to make Sunday’s start, filling in for the injured Corey Kluber.  In 30 innings at Triple-A, Clevinger had a 1.50 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP, and has looked sharp for the Clippers.  He’ll face Danny Duffy in the rubber match, as the Indians go for the series win.