During the hour and twenty-minute rain delay that preceded the Indians-Cardinals series opener on Monday night, Sports Time Ohio aired the Indians’ three-run 9th inning walk-off win against the Washington Nationals from July 26, 2016. I guess it was supposed to pump up viewers for a great game. Unfortunately, the only runs viewers saw the Tribe score last night were during the replay, because they were shut out by the Cardinals 4-0.

Indians starter Mike Clevinger went 5.0 innings, giving up 2 earned runs on 6 hits, while walking two and striking out four. Not a bad night, except that the Indians couldn’t deliver to back him up. Cardinals starter John Gant stymied an offense that had outscored its opponents 54-9 during the previous seven-game winning streak. Although Gant gave up 5 walks, the Indians only managed a single hit off him, and that was because a hard grounder from Yan Gomes bounced off 3rd base and straight up into the air, keeping Cardinals 3rd baseman Matt Carpenter from making the play. In all, Gant generated 10 outs on ground balls.

The Cardinals bullpen managed to preserve the shutout. Meanwhile, Zack McAllister and George Kontos came out of the bullpen and gave up one run each in 2.0 and 1.0 innings, respectively. Not only did the loss snap the Indians’ seven-game winning streak, it provided the Cardinals with their 10,000 national league victory. Bully for them. Corey Kluber makes the start for the Indians on Tuesday. The last time he faced the Cardinals, he struck out 18 batters, so there’s that. Game time is 8:15 ET.

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