Cleveland Indians: The offense had a minor awakening on Thursday

The Cleveland Indians were blown out by the Chicago White Sox on Thursday, but the starting lineup had a solid game for the first time in a week.

When Michael Martinez pitches for the Cleveland Indians, something has gone horribly wrong.

The Indians never stood a chance Thursday after Josh Tomlin allowed seven runs in 1 2/3 innings. He wasn’t able to match the dominance of Martinez’s scoreless ninth.

But lost amongst Tomlin’s start and Martinez’s relief appearance was the play of the offense. Four runs is nothing to get too excited about, but the team did have 12 hits in the loss.

That included a home run by Michael Brantley, who looks like his old self, and one by Yan Gomes, who needed the blast to get his confidence back up. We must now wait to see if it will help him, or if it was just a fluke.

Even Edwin Encarnacion had a solid game. He finished 0-for-3, but he drew two walks with his patience at the plate.

The only player who didn’t record a hit or a walk was Carlos Santana, but there is no reason to worry about his skill or confidence. He will be fine.

More from Away Back Gone

• Cleveland Guardians tantalizingly close to locking up AL Central tiebreakers
• Cleveland Guardians: Terry Francona becomes meme in profanity-laced ejection
• Say goodbye to defensive shifts and hello to bigger bases, pitch clock in 2023
• Cleveland Guardians: Shane Bieber second-fastest to 800 strikeouts in major-league history
• The next week will make or break the Cleveland Guardians’ season

The loss was no fun to watch, but it was good to see most of the lineup string together some great at-bats. The worst outcome would have been being blown out and only getting two or three hits. It would not have given the team much to build on before tonight’s game against the 6-3 Detroit Tigers.

The key tonight will be to put those hits to good use, which means coming through with runners in scoring position. It will also help if the team isn’t trailing 5-0 before the bottom of the first.

Even those struggling the most, such as Gomes, have been making great contact, but have just been unable to find a hole in the defense. The contact is a good sign, which should signal good things sooner than later.

It is still early in the year and the players are getting back into the swing of the regular season. Even though the runs haven’t been there yet, the contact shows that it is just a matter of time before the team breaks things open and gets back to the way they were playing a season ago.