Cleveland Indians: 3 takeaways from a freezing 1-0 loss to the Royals

The Cleveland Indians once again struggled on offense, this time in a 1-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals in a freezing cold game at home.

Let’s all take a second to applaud the brave fans who sat in freezing temperatures to watch the Cleveland Indians on Saturday.

If you love great pitching it was the game for you. But we all know the real story from this game.

The Indians offense failed to show up and has not put up a run since the first inning of Friday’s home opener. The team won that game, but fans aren’t happy with the early results at home so far. I am not promoting any mass panic, but it is quite alright to be frustrated.

The Indians have combined to score a total of six runs in their past four games, with the latest shutout wasting a great performance from Trevor Bauer. Let’s now take a look at some takeaways from the most recent loss.

Bauer had himself a Kluber-like day

Trevor Bauer didn’t seem to mind the cold as he went eight innings, allowing one run on just three hits and striking out seven. He also only walked two batters, and made it through eight innings on just 100 pitches.

This is some nice progress after he already had 101 pitches through five innings in his first start this season.

Days like this are frustrating for fans, but if we are searching for positives, Bauer is the main one. Given the offense thaws out and gets things going this week, performances like this from Bauer will start resulting in wins very soon.

Chisenhall’s pesky calf

Look away for two seconds and you may miss Lonnie Chisenhall suffering a calf injury. I was just about to tweet about the fanny pack he was wearing this afternoon when he was removed from the game before I had the chance.

That update sure isn’t good. Chisenhall has been dealing with calf injuries for quite some time and the cold weather today likely didn’t help.

This will seemingly give Tyler Naquin another shot to prove himself, but it seems clear that Naquin is going to be used when needed in 2018. The only way that changes is if he has some 2016 flashbacks on the field.

A frustrating slump

The entire offense is struggling right now but one of the most noticeable slow starts belongs to Jose Ramirez. He is now 2-for-30 to start the year, which amounts to a batting average of .067. His OBP is a little bit better at .200.

Out of the team’s five qualified hitters, Edwin Encarnacion has the best batting average with a mark of .222, so it’s not like Jose is derailing the lineup. However, 2-for-30 is tough on the eyes when it comes to a player capable of competing for the MVP award.

Next: Nick Goody steps up in the setup role

The Indians are back tomorrow and it figures to be a freezing cold day once again.