The Aftermath: Three Takeaways from the Indians’ 9-1 Loss to Oakland

The Cleveland Indians dropped an ugly game to the Oakland A’s as Danny Salazar’s struggles continued.

Tuesday night’s game was one the Cleveland Indians should forget as soon as possible. The Tribe, which had won four of five coming into the game, and was a perfect 4-0 against the A’s in 2016, fell by a score of 9-1 in a game with plenty of forgettable moments.

The loss came in Cleveland’s 15th game in as many days, part of a 23 games in 23 days stretch of the schedule, and left the club with some serious questions about its starting pitching moving forward.

For the second straight start since returning from the disabled list, Danny Salazar was simply not himself. The 26-year old right-hander lasted just four innings, allowing six runs on eight hits, walking three and striking out two.

Oakland took it to Salazar right away, as Khris Davis hit his 33rd home run of the season, a three-run, opposite field shot in the bottom of the first, and never looked back. By the time Indians’ catcher Chris Gimenez launched a solo homer in the sixth inning to give the team its only run of the night, the A’s already had a half dozen on the board.

The cleanup hitter Davis and three-hole hitter Danny Valencia combined to go 4-for-9 at the plate in the ballgame, driving in three runs and scoring five, and third baseman Ryon Healy added three hits in four at-bats to pace the Oakland offense.

The two sides will play the rubber match of the series on Wednesday afternoon, with first pitch coming at 3:35 p.m. ET. Trevor Bauer will take the ball for the Indians against Kendall Graveman of the A’s.

Manaea the maniac

For the second straight game, the Tribe’s bats were stymied by a rookie pitcher, as Oakland lefty Sean Manaea used an effective mix of mid-90s fastballs with a diving changeup to keep Cleveland’s hitters off balance. Manaea tossed seven innings, allowing just a run on three hits, striking out eight and walking two in improving to 5-8 on the season.

His performance comes one night after fellow rookie Andrew Triggs limited the Tribe to three hits in six scoreless innings, giving the A’s young starters a combined line of one run on six hits in 13 innings of work, with 14 strikeouts against three walks.

The Indians had entered the game with a 24-12 record this season against left-handed starters, but Manaea was masterful in locating his pitches and changing speeds. His changeup was particularly effective, inducing nine swings and misses and seven balls in play, none of which went for hits.

Play of the night

In the eighth inning, trailing 6-1, Lonnie Chisenhall made a pinch hitting appearance against former Tribe reliever John Axford, and smoked a line drive toward the right-center gap. As this was not Cleveland’s night, though, Chisenhall ended up on the wrong side of the highlight, courtesy of Oakland center fielder Jake Smolinski.

Smolinski went 1-for-5 on the night at the plate, scoring a run and driving one in, and was the first to get a base hit off of Salazar in the A’s three-run first inning. The 27-year old third year pro is having a solid go of things in the Bay area, slashing .275/.341/.423 with seven homers, 24 RBIs, and an OPS+ of 111 in 68 games.

Time to panic about Salazar?

Salazar has now made two starts since coming off the DL due to elbow soreness, and has borne no resemblance to the Cy Young candidate that Cleveland fans saw during the first half of the season. In his two starts, the righty has given up nine runs on nine hits in five innings, issuing six free passes and striking out just three.

Command has been an issue for Salazar, as just 65 of his 114 pitches (57 percent) have been thrown for strikes in the two outings. Questions about whether he should have made a minor league rehab start were already swirling after last Thursday’s one inning debacle against the White Sox, and those rumblings will likely only get louder now.

Next: Analyzing Carlos Carrasco's Strange August

If the Indians have any hope of making an October run this season, they need a healthy, confident, mechanically-effective Salazar, and that guy has not been the one that’s shown up the past two starts.