Believe it or not, Friday night’s game in Kansas City had a 1-0 score through the first six innings.  Jason Kipnis hit a solo homer in the third inning, and thanks to a strong outing from Mike Clevinger, the Royals were shutout until the bottom of the seventh.

The Indians erupted for 10 runs in the top of the seventh, their highest-scoring single inning so far in the 2018 season.  Josh Donaldson started the frame with a double, and then scored.  Later in the same inning, Donaldson returned to the plate with the bases loaded and hit a grand slam.  The final out of the inning was made by Roberto Perez, but during his first at-bat that inning he hit an RBI single.

In the top of the ninth inning, the Indians scored three more runs, courtesy of a Roberto Perez double that plated two runs and a Francisco Lindor single that scored one.

As I mentioned, the Royals scored a run off Clevinger in the seventh, the only one he surrendered.  He ended his night allowing 3 hits, striking out 5 and walking none in 6.2 IP.  He also cleared the 200 innings pitched threshold for the season.  Adam Cimber relieved him and allowed 1 hit in 1.1 scoreless IP.

For the Indians, the bad moments of the night came in the ninth inning.  Cody Allen started the frame, even though a 14-1 game was the furthest thing possible from a save attempt.  However, Terry Francona wanted Allen to throw on consecutive days before the end of the regular season, and so the plan was that he’d finish out Friday night’s game and then pitch Saturday as well.

Allen struck out Adalberto Mondesi to start the inning, but then gave up two consecutive singles (the second an RBI single), followed by two consecutive walks.  Allen didn’t seem to have it Friday night, but with a 14-2 cushion I figured that he was in there until he either got the final two outs or gave up 12 additional runs.  Surprisingly, Francona had a relatively quick hook; after just 20 pitches he pulled Allen in favor of Adam Plutko.  Francona said it was because of the scheduled Saturday outing, but I was still surprised.  Don’t get me wrong – Allen didn’t have it Friday night and should’ve been pulled.  It just seems that Francona usually doesn’t pull him quickly in close games, not to mention one with a 12 run advantage.

When Plutko entered he surrendered a grand slam to the first person he faced, Brian Goodwin, and all of the sudden it was 14-6.  Plutko probably should’ve just placed it on a batting tee because it was a flat pitch down the dead center of the plate.  I didn’t notice it, but I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Goodwin literally drool over it.  Plutko walked the next batter, and by this point I was really starting to get annoyed.  I had sat through that much of the game, I wanted to see it through until the end.  But at the same time, enough was enough.  Fortunately Plutko got Cam Gallagher to pop up to Perez, and struck out Whit Merrifield to end the game.

I know that it was a meaningless game against a team that is 57-103, but the Allen appearance concerns me.  The Indians have other relievers they can use, but think of how good they can be with strong performances from Allen, Miller, and Hand in the back end of the bullpen.  Allen looked better recently, and everyone hoped that he’d found a way to turn it around.  However, we’ll soon find out whether Friday night was an aberration, or if it’s a preview of things to come.

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