Cleveland Indians: 3 takeaways from the 5-2 loss to the Yankees

If you were out enjoying Cinco De Mayo festivities be happy that you missed yet another poor Cleveland Indians performance.

The Cleveland Indians have found themselves in a bit of a weird slump. They aren’t hitting as terribly as they were in April, but a lack of hitting with RISP and bad defensive mistakes have the Tribe reeling early on. Today was no different.

A horrible lapse on the part of Francisco Lindor cost the Indians two runs as the shortstop made two errors on one play. The Indians were unable to bounce back past that point.

This loss can’t be blamed on the Indians bullpen. Ben Taylor came in and pitched two innings in relief allowing only one run. Here are the biggest takeaways from today’s game.

A lot went wrong

Trevor Bauer was the losing pitcher in this game but it wasn’t entirely his fault. The double E6 on Lindor was his third in the last two days. It showed as it allowed the Yankees to take the lead. Bauer did walk in the tying run in the fifth inning after loading the bases up. It was a weird game. The only long ball scored was Lindor’s home run in the fifth.

Lindor giveth and he taketh away. Still it is nice not to blame this loss on the bullpen as we have in the last few losses. The Indians also had a chance to score in the third inning as they loaded the bases up with one out. Sonny Gray worked out of the inning and the Indians left the bases loaded.

The Indians can’t hit with runners in scoring position

The Indians went 0-6 today with RISP, leaving five men on base. Edwin Encarnacion did groundout to allow Jose Ramirez to score. This was a problem that the Indians faced early on last year. The Indians are still 10th in the league in RBIs but they have to start getting better with clutch hitting.

Yonder Alonso had a miserable day going 0-4 with four strikeouts. Roberto Perez still is not seeing his fastballs at all, he went 0-3 with 2 Ks. The Indians heavy hitters have continued to hit but just not at the right time. Sure it is only a matter of time, but for now it makes the games hard to watch.

The Yankees have the Indians number

It’s not really fun to say or think about but the New York Yankees have the Indians number right now. Ever since the 2017 postseason start the team has struggled to keep up with the “big teams” in baseball. The Yankees are on an absolute tear right now. They beat up on the Astros and now are doing the same to the Tribe. The Indians are capable of beating them but for now this team is hard to stop.

Next: Tribe acquires Oliver Drake from Brewers

The Indians will look to stop them tomorrow as they bring Mike Clevinger to take on Domingo German, who is making his first major league start. Tune into the game at 1:05 pm to treat your Cinco De Mayo hangover with the suffering of another Indians game. Be safe y’all.