Cleveland Indians: 3 takeaways from a painful game to watch

The Cleveland Indians have not fared well on their road trip and this game didn’t help that at all. The Tribe blew another disappointing game against the Oakland A’s

The Cleveland Indians somehow found a way to have a more embarrassing performance than they had last night. The Tribe dropped the second game in a row against the A’s and continue to spiral on this road trip.

The most disappointing part of this road trip is that it follows up a great homestead for the Indians. Now their road performances have been dismal and this game was no exception. The Indians will continue this road trip and go to Kansas City next week. This series against Oakland was a loss and the Indians just need to move on. Here’s the takeaways

Adam Plutko has not earned his rotation spot

There’s been a lot of discussion of weather Shane Bieber or Adam Plutko should have the fifth spot in the Tribe rotation. Plutkos inability to win games or pitch well in clutch situations have likely cost him his rotation spot.

Today was not much better for Plutko. He worked just 5.2 innings and blew the two run lead that the Indians had going into the fifth. He hasn’t been very successful since his time in the majors and he’s been extremely susceptible to the long ball.

For Plutko this may have been his last chance to prove his worth and earn a spot in the rotation. Carlos Carrasco will make his return next week and Pluto will likely be sent back to Triple-A

Indians bullpen continues to make things worse

The Cleveland Indians bullpen has been a roller coaster this year. Today was a downward slope on that roller coaster. The Indians bullpen allowed four runs on top of the runs allowed by Plutko and continued to be a liability as they allowed four more runs.

This has started to arise as a problem yet again as the bullpen has proven to be a liability. Josh Tomlin has proven he is not a reliable pitcher for the Tribe as either a starter or a reliever. He allowed three earned runs while recording just one out; although it didn’t matter much.

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Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor continue to be studs.

There is a reason that Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor continue to pull All-Star votes. They’re unstoppable. The duo has combined for 44 homers this year for the Tribe. They’ve proven to be the among most efficient infield duos in baseball.

Lindor is trailing in shortstop votes for the All-Star game but the duo of Ramirez and Lindor has been purely unstoppable. For Ramirez he’s second in baseball in fWAR behind only Mike Trout. He’s tied for second in home-runs and is the only hitter in baseball with 20+ doubles and 20+ homers.

As for Frankie Lindor, he’s finding his stride yet again. While he isn’t a leader in the All-Star votes for shortstop, he is 4th in fWAR. He’s been simply outstanding and this infield duo keeps the Tribe competitive.

Next: Oliver Perez had a weird outing on Friday

There isn’t much else to take from this game. The Indians haven’t played good baseball on this road trip. They’ll look to avoid the sweep before playing the worst team in baseball later this week.