Trevor Bauer’s struggles at Camden Yards continued on Friday night, dropping the Tribe starter to 0-4 lifetime in the Baltimore ballpark.
It’s not all Bauer’s fault, though. In fact, he didn’t toss a bad game at all. In the early innings, Trevor was trouble for the Orioles, commanding four pitches — fastball, slow curve, slider and change-up — mowing down 9 of the first 10 batters he faced, giving up only one walk.
In the fourth inning, Bauer fell behind his nemesis Manny Machado, 3-0. So the pitcher grooved a fastball, thinking double M might be taking all the way. Bad idea. Machado had the green light and jumped on the prime offering, driving it over the wall in the deepest part of center field.
To start the fifth, Trevor hit the first batter, then gave up a successive single and double to plate two more runs.
That was all the O’s would need since the anemic Tribe offense could muster only one run all game long. When your only run comes from the pitcher hitting a batter, rather than the other way around, you know you’re in for a long night. Especially when that lone run comes in the first inning.
The Indians had at least one base runner in each of the first five innings, but couldn’t put anything together after the first frame. Jason Kipnis singled, Jose Ramirez walked, Michael Brantley continued his hitting streak with a single, then Edwin Encarnacion was plunked by a pitch to push Kipnis across.
Other than that, the Tribe scattered a few more hits including doubles by Brantley and Brandon Guyer, all without scoring again.
After the Indians let O’s starter Dylan Bundy off the hook in the first, he settled in to strike out 9 Tribe batters. The Indians whiffed 12 total times for the game.
We all know the Tribe offense will get going at some point. In the meantime, we can’t expect the Indians’ strong pitching staff to hold hitters to one or two runs every game. This loss dropped the Tribe to 9-8 on the young season.