Tough break

June 30, 2012

Regular readers of IPL know that our team of six bloggers—count ’em, six—makes sure to post a recap of each and every Indians game within an hour or two of the last out. Unfortunately, severe storms throughout Ohio last night, and the attendant power outages caused by these storms, made it impossible for us to have put up the recap of last night’s game that would have appeared in this space.

By now you probably know that the Orioles beat the Indians, 9-8. It wasn’t a pretty game in many ways. Tribe starter Derek Lowe wasn’t sharp, having given up seven runs, four of them earned, over 5⅓ innings of work. The Indians’ defense looked like a Keystone Kops routine in the first inning, as Casey Kotchman and Asdrubal Cabrera each made errors which led to the first three Baltimore runs. The Tribe offense did its part, banging out a season-high 16 hits, including Cabrera’s 11th home run. What ultimately cost the Indians the game was the ineffective relief work of the usually dependable Joe Smith and Chris Perez, each of whom pitched one inning and allowed one earned run. Perez, who hadn’t pitched in a week and who therefore needed the work, made a rare appearance in a non-save situation in the 8th. He struck out the first hitter he faced, but then gave up a solid home run to rookie Xavier Avery, the first of Avery’s young career.

The Indians mounted another too little, too late 9th inning rally. With the Tribe down 9-7, Shin-Soo Choo scored on Shelley Duncan’s two-out single to narrow the Orioles’ lead to one run, but Cabrera flied out to left to end the game.

The worst part of last night’s game, though, came in the top of the fifth inning, when Orioles reliever Troy Patton plunked Indians DH Lonnie Chisenhall with an inside pitch. Clearly in pain, Chisenhall had to leave the game. X-rays later revealed that the pitch fractured the ulna bone in his right forearm.  Chisenhall will undergo surgery next week, and will likely be on the disabled list for four to six weeks. Infielder Jason Donald was recalled from AAA Columbus to take Chisenshall’s place on the roster, and will be in uniform for this afternoon’s game.

To add insult to injury, the White Sox ran roughshod over the Yankees last night, so the Indians now find themselves 3½ games out of first place in the AL Central.

1 Comment

  • Swift says:

    I heard yesterday that it is more like 10 to 12 weeks (I’m guessing when they went in there, it was worse than they guessed). He is done for the season. Very tough break (so to speak).