Cleveland Indians: Three takeaways from the Indians third straight loss

The Cleveland Indians continue a slump of disappointing play as they drop the first game of the Ohio Cup series against the Cincinnati Reds.

Well, this is another disappointing takeaway experience. When the Cleveland Indians are hot they find every possible way to win. When they’re slumping, they find every possible way to lose. Such is the way baseball is played. Unfortunately it’s become painful to watch such a good offense muster just four runs in their last three games.

The Indians have played fairly well against bad teams. Tonight the offense was absolutely atrocious against the Reds. The Indians only got their leadoff man on once in this game and looked completely lost against Anthony DeSclafani. Here are the takeaways.

Mike Clevinger did all he could

It wasn’t a great outing for Mike Clevinger but he did what he could to get the job done for the Tribe. He pitched six innings and racked up 11 strikeouts. While it sounds good and it’s a great strikeout number, he struggled to keep runners off the bases.

Clevinger allowed seven hits and three walks to put 10 men on base. This equated to five earned runs that would be the difference in this game. While he earned the loss, the offense once again did little to help Clevinger.

The offense…. yikes.

Well the ninth inning rally attempt cushioned the numbers a bit. The Indians offense ended up going one for nine with runners in scoring position. They ended up with ten hits and five runs on the evening. But before the ninth inning the only run scored was off of a Yonder Alonso home-run.

A double play neutralized one of the few times the Indians managed to get a lead-off man on base. The night ended with perhaps the Indians best hitter of the year Jose Ramirez striking out to end their rally attempt. That’s been the last few games in a nutshell.

At least the division is bad

The Cleveland Indians still hold a nine game lead in the AL Central. The Twins are behind them and the Tigers have all but dropped off. They have the luxury of playing in the AL Central and it allows the Indians to suffer these losses. It’s not fun for the fans and doesn’t help the Indians in comparison to other teams, but that’s not what matters.

As long as the AL Central remains bad, the Indians can afford these kinds of losses in the effort o better themselves. As painful as it is to watch we can sleep knowing the Indians are still a playoff team.

Next: Indians back to number 6 in power rankings

The series resumes tonight. Hopefully the offense will show up to this one, and the starter, and the bullpen.