Indians Anything But Angelic, Lose Series

Despite getting off to a great start in their series against the Angels, the Indians dropped their final two games in Anaheim to finish their west coast road trip with a losing record. They currently sit at 2-4 and will face the Royals on Friday for their first home stand of 2018.

Let’s quickly run through the good, the bad, and the ugly from the Tribe’s trip to California.

The Good

Mike Clevinger kicked off his season in style, pitching a gem on Monday night in Cleveland’s 6-0 victory. Clevinger pitched 5.1 scoreless innings, with 4 hits, 2 walks and 5 strikeouts. He was especially effective pitching inside, often jamming right handed hitters, including Mike Trout.

Edwin Encarnacion hit an inside the park home run on Monday night. No need to check your eyesight, you read that correctly. You can watch the video here, and it sure is a sight to behold. I watched the game on replay whilst eating breakfast and nearly spat out my cereal when I saw Edwin flying round the bases.

Bradley Zimmer’s bat still has some way to go (2 hits in 12 PA this series) but his speed is undeniably a huge asset to this ballclub. In the third inning of Monday’s opener he practically created a run by himself. Facing Angels starter JC Ramirez, Zimmer beat out an infield single, before proceeding to steal second with ease. On a wild Ramirez pitch he took third without breaking sweat but catcher Martin Maldonado threw it into left field and Zimmer waltzed home. This is what he does so well, and combined with his defense in center field, will make him a household name in Cleveland before you know it.

Another couple of nice hits from this series: Tyler Naquin took a belt-high pitch and crushed it into right field for his first homer of 2018, in the fourth inning of Monday night’s game. Jose Ramirez, 0-15 to start the year heading into Tuesday’s game, finally got his first hit, a 2-run shot. The exit velocity was 103.4mph, coming off starter Garrett Richards. Sadly it was all the offense the Tribe could muster in that lopsided defeat.

The Bad

People are calling for the head of Josh Tomlin already. He was not sharp from the beginning on Tuesday night. Trout homered in the first inning, when Tomlin left a pitch up and in the middle of the strike zone, and Trout did what you would expect. With the Angels leading 3-2 and still in the first inning, Japanese sensation Shohei Ohtani connected for his first major league homer, a 3-run shot, to extend the lead to 6-2 and effectively bury the Tribe for the night. Tomlin’s inside breaking ball was actually a decent pitch but credit to Ohtani, he timed it perfectly. It eventually took Tomlin 44 pitches to escape the first inning, giving up 6 runs. In the second inning, Justin Upton solo-homered and in the third inning, former-Indian Luis Valbuena went deep on a solo homer of his own to left center field. That was all she wrote for Tomlin, 8 runs surrendered over 3 innings.

Dan Otero was not very effective in relief of Tomlin, and gave up 3 runs of his own (although Matt Belisle pitched well.) Zach McAllister saw some action but gave up a 2-run homer to Rene Rivera. Tuesday’s 13-2 loss was pretty ugly for everyone. McAllister suffered again in Wednesday's extra-inning loss, giving up the walk-off home run to Zack Cozart for a 3-2 Angels win.

The Ugly

In Wednesday’s rubber game, Corey Kluber was sent to the mound to rescue the series and was superb but received very little support from his offense. Kluber carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning but Andrelton Simmons bunted to get on base, in an attempt to start a rally. Then Ohtani proceeded to smash a Kluber pitch deep over the center field wall to tie the game 2-2, not endearing himself to Tribe fans thus far in his early career. I really wanted to like the guy too. Kluber finished the day with 7 innings pitched, 3 hits, 2 earned runs, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts. Alas, a win still eludes him.

The offense, give or take a home run here and there, haven't been great overall. During their trip to Seattle and Anaheim, the offense slashed .161/.264/.338, with 21 runs scored in total, with over half of those runs coming in the Indians' two wins.

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The Indians have an off day as they fly home from out west, and will go again tomorrow in their home opener against Kansas City. Carlos Carrasco is scheduled to pitch and the Tribe will be looking to get back to winning ways.