Cleveland Indians fall to Brewers to start first full week of Spring Training

The Milwaukee Brewers handed the Cleveland Indians their second loss of the spring in what was a very “Spring Training-esque” game.

In a game that featured plenty of fly balls in the sun, some bad throws and catches, and plenty of wild pitches, the Milwaukee Brewers came out on top of the Cleveland Indians with a final score of 7-6.

This was the Indians second loss of the spring and wasn’t exactly what fans wanted after yesterday’s game ended in a tie. But this is Spring Training and it’s more about individual performances than anything else.

The Indians had some interesting individual performances in this one for sure. Josh Tomlin pitched the first two innings of today’s game. He didn’t allow any runs and had two strikeouts in the first inning (one looking). In the second he looked to be in midseason form by inducing three flyouts; something he is well known for.

Dan Otero had another underwhelming performance in relief of Tomlin. He allowed three runs on 30 pitches with three walks. He didn’t even make it out of the inning. Hopefully he just has some rust to work off as he figures to be a key piece to this bullpen in 2018.

Richie Shaffer had another good game at the plate with a RBI single bringing his total this spring to five. Unfortunately, he also made a bad throw in the fourth that caused an ugly collision with Bobby Bradley and Keon Broxton. Fortunately, no one was injured on the play.

Speaking of Bradley, he nearly homered in the second but it hit off the top of the wall. Shaffer drove him in right after. He also had a RBI himself that scored pinch runner Francisco Mejia. Oh, and I should mention the two-run blast Mejia hit in the fifth inning. There will be plenty more of those in the coming years for the Indians’ number one prospect.

Game Notes

The Indians lost this game the same way they nearly lost yesterday; bad defense by young players. The fielding error by Willie Castro ultimately cost the Tribe the game. But it’s Spring Training. Sloppy baseball happens.

While it didn’t happen in today’s game, Cody Anderson was placed on the 60-day DL yesterday, further delaying his return. In the game, The Indians got off to a hot start by seeing 33 pitches in the first two innings. Both teams had 11 hits in this one but plenty more players reached thanks to errors, wild pitches, and walks. Oh… and Erik Gonzalez did this.

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The Indians will be back at it tomorrow against the Oakland Athletics. The game will be at 3:05 again and will not be televised. I can’t make any promises about tomorrow’s performance, but the way this spring has started it will certainly be a fun one.