Cleveland Indians: Oliver Perez’s odd Friday night

Oliver Perez has been a solid reliever for the Cleveland Indians this season but his outing on Friday night was one to remember.

There was not much to be excited about in the latest loss for the Cleveland Indians. The team was stifled on offense and opportunities were wasted.

But one wild thing happened in the seventh inning, which I touched on in this morning’s takeaways but I really want to highlight once again. It was not something that changed the game of baseball, but it was still interesting to witness.

If someone who missed the game checks the box score, they may be terribly confused when seeing Oliver Perez’s name. He is charged one walk, but never threw a single pitch.

Is this what you wanted, Rob Manfred?

I personally have no issue with the intentional walk rule as there are only a handful of instances in which anyone has ever hit a ball on a pitch intended to be thrown way outside the plate. Yes it does happen, but not often enough to where taking away the pitches is that big of a deal.

However, it does lead to quirky things like this which I am sure has Tim Kirkjian excited this afternoon.

This is one of those odd happenings that may now become more common thanks to the rule changes. It is not great if a team has a thin bullpen, but no one is making the manager come in and take out the pitcher before he throws a pitch.

Next: Top stories from the month of June

In a game that saw great pitching from Trevor Bauer be rewarded with minimal help on offense, it is things like this that we have to hang our hats on. So let’s hope that the Indians show a bit better effort on offense this afternoon in Oakland.