Cleveland Indians: Takeaways from a shutout loss in Boston

The Cleveland Indians finished the series in Boston with two disappointing losses. The good news is that they still salvaged a series split.

Well that was a bummer.

The Cleveland Indians lost by the score of 7-0 against the Boston Red Sox this afternoon, giving the American League’s top team 90 wins on the season. It’s only August 23.

Adam Plutko got the start and was cruising along for the first four innings. But his offense never showed up for him and things went downhill in the fifth inning.

Here are three things that stood out after today’s loss.

Greg Allen’s run continues

Greg Allen had an off day Wednesday night, breaking his 14-game hitting streak. He got things going again this afternoon going 2-3 out of the nine spot in the lineup.

We have focused on Allen a lot recently and it is great to see him do so well, especially against the Red Sox. On a day when the Indians only picked up five hits as a team, Allen had two.

The Indians may still go after a center fielder, perhaps Andrew McCutchen, before the end of the month. But Allen is doing his best to say he deserves playing time throughout the rest of the regular season and October.

Plutko’s role

Adam Plutko’s final line left him with five earned runs in 4.1 innings of work, although Adam Cimber was on the mound for a few of those runs.

Plutko is in the rotation because Trevor Bauer is on the disabled list. And unfortunately for him, I’m not sure he factors into the playoff roster in any capacity.

One rough outing against the best team in baseball is not a major negative against Plutko. He is just on the outside looking in. I assume he will get regular work in September thanks to the giant divisional lead. That becomes even more true if Terry Francona wants to run with a six-man rotation to keep everyone fresh for October.

Games and performances like this aren’t fun to watch, but are all part of a regular season where everyone is just looking to get to October with everyone healthy.

Tomlin returns

Josh Tomlin is back on the active roster and was back on the mound this afternoon. He pitched three innings, allowing one run on five hits. Not great, not dreadful, just normal Tomlin.

The only way I see Tomlin starting again is due to an injury, or maybe in the final series of the season if there is nothing to play for. But I don’t see why he should be included on the postseason roster.

But that is up to Francona, and we know how loyalty is a factor in his decisions.