Yonder Alonso slugs a two-run home run in the second inning, which propelled the Indians to a 2-1 victory.

 

 

The Indians only managed four hits in Monday night’s game, and just two runs – those both came from a two-run home run from Yonder Alonso in the second inning.  Two of those four hits came in that second inning (Edwin Encarnacion was on base due to a single), while Jose Ramirez doubled in the top of the third and Francisco Lindor singled in the top of the fifth.  Otherwise, Kevin Gausman shut down the Indians lineup through eight innings, while Richard Bleier pitched a perfect ninth inning.

This easily could have been a game where this recap is spent lamenting yet another occasion where the Indians offense struggled to get hits and score runs.  But thanks to a solid outing from Carlos Carrasco, and good relief pitching from Andrew Miller and Cody Allen, Alonso’s homer was enough to give the Indians a 2-1 victory.

To be fair, Gausman is a talented pitcher who had a somewhat slow start to the 2018 season.  So it’s not out of the realm of possibility for him to pitch a great game (although his longest outing prior to tonight was just six innings).  The Indians managed to win three out of four this series, thanks in part to the fact that the Orioles are one of the other teams struggling offensively in April.  When the Indians entered this series they were last in the American League in team batting average, while the Orioles were second-to-last.  As of Monday night, they’d flipped spots, with Baltimore taking the basement spot in batting average.

I listened to Sunday’s game on the radio, and Tom Hamilton made a good point.  At the time, the Orioles were 6-15 (since Sunday’s game was not complete), while the Indians were 10-8.  (By Monday night, those records were now 6-17 and 12-8).  The Indians and Orioles had similar offensive profiles to this point – both were really struggling to get hits and score runs.  But the Indians have had solid pitching from both their starters and bullpen, outside of that one miserable start in Anaheim by Josh Tomlin.  (And the Indians have yet to face the red-hot Red Sox, who clobbered the Orioles earlier this month).

In my last recap, I mentioned that the Indians just have to hope that the pitching performances are strong until the lineup wakes up.  While there have definitely been signs of improvement with several key players in the lineup, they’re not necessarily firing on all cylinders yet.  This road trip went much better than the Tribe’s initial west coast road trip though, as they went 4-2 against the Twins and Orioles.  Hopefully they can continue their winning ways on the upcoming home stand.

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