Cleveland Indians Fall in 16 Innings to Astros, Lose Series

The Cleveland Indians fell to the Houston Astros yesterday

afternoon

evening 5-3 in 16 innings. The loss dropped the Indians to 16-15 on the season while the Astros are now 14-21. The Tribe had hoped to take the series after winning the second game in the three-game series Tuesday night but instead, they dropped the series (and ultimately the brief road trip).

Tribe starter Danny Salazar went five innings allowing just one run on four base hits; however, he also added six walks and was in and out of trouble multiple times. He first ran into trouble in the bottom of the first when he loaded the bases with no outs thanks to back-to-back walks after a leadoff single. However, Salazar struck out the next three batters, getting out of the inning unscathed. He would go on to strike out ten Astros in his five innings of work and despite the walks, excited the game with the lead and a chance to win the game.

Things didn’t go as planned though as Tommy Hunter and Zach McAllister each allowed runs in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively. Outside of that, though, the bullpen was actually dynamite for the Tribe. In fact, the combination of Bryan Shaw, Joba Chamberlain, Jeff Manship, Cody Allen, Dan Otero, and Cody Anderson held the Astros hitless from the end of the seventh inning thru the 15th inning.You read that right, Cody Anderson came in as a reliever for the Indians after the Tribe exhausted all eight bullpen arms in the game. Anderson, despite taking the loss and dropping to 0-3 on the year, pitched very well.

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You read that right, Cody Anderson came in as a reliever for the Indians after the Tribe exhausted all eight bullpen arms in the game. Anderson, despite taking the loss and dropping to 0-3 on the year, pitched very well. He worked 3 1/3 innings on three days rest. He struck out four and walked none. He was perfect in his first three innings of work before allowing an infield single and, ultimately, the walk-off home run to Marwin Gonzalez in the bottom of the 16th.

Manager Terry Francona was able to use Anderson thanks to the off day today, which will allow him to bump Anderson back to Tuesday, May 17th when he’ll be on normal 4-days rest. The rest of the rotation, starting with Josh Tomlin tomorrow, can be bumped up one day and still be on their normal 4-days of rest as well.

Offensively, there wasn’t much to talk about for the Indians on the day as Astros’ starter Doug Fister really kept the Indians in check, going seven innings allowing just two runs on six hits and zero walks. The one guy the Astros couldn’t solve though was Jason Kipnis who had a big day, recording five hits (all singles) in seven at-bats including an RBI single in the top of the third to give the Tribe the 1-0 at the time. Mike Napoli continued his power display, hitting a solo home run in fourth to give the Tribe a 2-0 lead.After that, though, the only run the Indians were able to muster over the next 12 innings came in the ninth when

After that, though, the only run the Indians were able to muster over the next 12 innings came in the ninth when Carlos Santana drove in Napoli with an RBI triple, tying the game at three. It was the first blown save of the season for Astros’ closer Luke Gregerson. Santana was at third base with only one out in the ninth, but neither Marlon Byrd nor Yan Gomes was able to get him in.

The only other positive offensively came when Jose Ramirez pinch ran for Juan Uribe in the eighth inning. Ramirez was not in the starting lineup after being hit in the hand by a pitch in Tuesday’s win. It was originally thought Ramirez was unavailable but he ended up playing a full nine innings and got three at-bats thanks to the extra-inning marathon.

Brantley Battling Shoulder Soreness

The Indians needed some good news on Ramirez as he wasn’t the only one out of the starting lineup yesterday. Outfielder Michael Brantley was unable to play due to continued soreness in his surgically repaired shoulder. It was the second game in a row Brantley was out after also being absent from the lineup on Tuesday.

"“This is where I’m kind of kicking myself a little bit,” Francona said. “We might have gone a little too far, too much, too fast. I didn’t want to do that, but we probably did. We’ll give him tonight and probably tomorrow to allow him to bounce back like we want him to.“It’s hard to do that … just want to make sure he’s not just ‘playing two, sitting two’ and not being the kind of hitter he can be. I don’t think he’s thrilled with it.”"

It doesn’t sound like this is something that will require another trip to the disabled list, but it’s nevertheless a bit concerning. Hopefully with the two days off in Houston and today’s off day, Brantley should be ready to go when the Tribe returns home tomorrow to take on the Minnesota Twins.

Urshela Hurt in Columbus

The Indians got some more bad news on the injury front as third baseman Giovanny Urshela was placed on the 7-day disabled list in Triple-A with a sore hamstring.

ROSTER MOVES:

INF Giovanny Urshela – to 7 day DL (right hamstring)

INF Yandy Diaz --- transferred from Akron
— Columbus Clippers (@CLBClippers) May 12, 2016

Urshela hurt his hamstring on a double the night before. After a slow starter to the season with the Columbus Clippers, Urshela has picked it up offensively and is hitting .283 with a .706 OPS and 106 wRC+ (weighted runs created). There is no word yet on how long he’ll be out but as we know, hamstrings can be tricky.

Next: Josh Tomlin just keeps on winning

Yandy Diaz will replace Urshela with the Clippers for now. Diaz, one of the Tribe’s top ten prospects, has been on fire in his second stint at Double-A Akron. In 26 games with the Rubberducks, he hit .286 with a .826 OPS and 150 wRC+. He also had an insane 21.8% walk rate, which is tops in the Eastern League and led to his .445 OBP (top five in the league).

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