Cleveland Indians: 3 takeaways from Friday’s high-scoring loss

The Cleveland Indians put nine runs on the board but that was not enough in Friday’s loss against the Kansas City Royals.

The Cleveland Indians were up 9-4 over the Kansas City Royals after four innings. The game seemed to be in the bag as fans settled in for what should have been a comfortable march toward victory.

Instead, some costly errors and some more rough pitching turned that nice lead into a 10-9 defeat. The loss drops the Indians back below the .500 mark, while it pushes the Royals’ record up to 13-25.

Let’s take a look at some key things that stood out from the loss.

The home runs keep coming

The Indians hit three home runs on the night, with the biggest one being the grand slam hit by Michael Brantley to push the lead to 9-4. Jose Ramirez and Yonder Alonso got the offense going with home runs in the first inning.

Some fans are wary about so many runs coming via home runs, but scoring is the way to win so you won’t find many complaining about the nine runs scored. The complaining will be focused on the pitching after this one.

Not Bauer’s best

Trevor Bauer just couldn’t get it going as he only made it through 4.2 innings on a whopping 109 pitches. He allowed 11 hits in that span, gave up four earned runs and only struck out three Royals.

This was easily Bauer’s worst start of the season. It was his shortest outing and was the first time he has allowed over three earned runs in a game this season. It was also his lowest strikeout total after striking out at least six batters in every start this season.

Games like this are bound to happen but it is still frustrating to see it happen against a Royals team playing so poorly this season. Although it wasn’t all Bauer’s fault.

Miller can’t save the game in his return

Andrew Miller made a triumphant return to the mound and the Indians got their savior back. He entered the game with his team ahead 9-8 and proceeded to allow a two-run home run that put the Royals up 10-9.

It is going to take Miller some time to get back in the swing of things, and we also must remember that he is indeed human. Still, not the ideal outcome after hyping him up as the difference maker during his absence.

The good news out of the bullpen was that Zach McAllister threw 2.1 scoreless innings in relief of Miller. The problem was that the offense ran out of gas by the time he was in.

Next: Indians in familiar spot with current record

Let’s hope the Indians handle the lowly Royals a bit better on Saturday.