King Felix Stifles Tribe

Jun 29, 2014; Seattle, WA, USA; Cleveland Indians starting pitcher T.J. House (58) pitches against the Seattle Mariners during the first inning at Safeco Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

Hernandez  K’s 9, Allows Just One Hit

Just one day after Josh Tomlin shut out the Mariners with his 11 strikeout, one hit gem, Felix Hernandez and Fernando Rodney returned the favor by holding the Tribe to a one-hit shutout on Sunday afternoon.  Robinson Cano gave the Mariners the lead in the sixth, knocking a two-run homer off of TJ House, and Rodney pitched the ninth for his 23rd save.

The Positives

TJ House was doing pretty well until he rushed a play in the sixth for his first major-league error.  After that, he paid the price for trying to be too perfect against Robinson Cano.  Still, if the Indians could get six innings of two-run ball from their starters more often, they’d probably be a lot higher in the standings.  He pitched well to some tough hitters, retiring 10 in a row at one point, and got half of his outs by ground balls and another quarter via the strikeout.  John Axford also pitched a solid inning, but I’m not holding my breath that he’s turned things around.

The Negatives

The offense in general was terrible.  Yes, Cleveland was up against a pitcher who is arguably the best in the American League right now, but a contending team should have been able to scratch out more than just one hit and a few walks.  Nick Swisher‘s poor defense reared its ugly head again, too.  I’m not sure why he hasn’t been relegated to a part time role yet.

Check It Out

–TJ House threw 58 of his 87 pitches for strikes

-After hovering around 2.00 down the stretch last year for the Tribe, lefty Marc Rzepczynski‘s ERA has ballooned to nearly 4 for the first half of this season

–David Murphyhas 1 hit in his last 42 at-bats