Cleveland Indians: Offense, bullpen falter in loss to Brewers

The Cleveland Indians three-game weekend series with the Milwaukee Brewers got off to a rough start Friday as they fell to the Brew Crew by a score of 7-1

Once again, the Cleveland Indians offense failed to offer their starting pitcher much run support and this time, the bullpen could not bail them out as the Tribe fell to the Milwaukee Brewers 7-1 at Progressive Field Friday.

The Brewers would strike first blood as in the top of the fourth, Luis Urias hit an infield single to score Jedd Gyorko and put Milwaukee on top 1-0.

Cleveland would even the score in the bottom of the fifth as Delino DeShields plated Tyler Naquin with a ground ball.

In the top of the sixth, Carlos Carrasco put the finishing touches on a second straight strong outing as he tossed six innings, allowed one run, six hits, walked three and struck out seven.

He’d receive a no-decision as the Indians failed to score in the bottom of the sixth and in the seventh, the Brewers ambushed Indians reliever Phil Maton.

Keston Hiura gave Milwaukee the lead with an RBI double off Maton as he was pulled in favor of Oliver Perez with men on second and third with just one out.

From there, the inning went from bad to worse for the Indians as a Carlos Santana error allowed two runs to score and Ryan Braun delivered an RBI single to push the Brewers lead to 5-1.

The Brewers extended their lead in the top of the eighth as Hiura hit a two-run home run off James Karinchak to push the Brew Crew lead to 7-1.

While the Brewers offense jumped on the Cleveland bullpen, Milwaukee starting pitcher Corbin Burnes shutdown the Indians lineup as he tossed six innings that saw him allow just one run, three hits, two walks and struck out seven in a winning effort.

The Brewers bullpen combination of Brent Suter and Alex Claudio tossed three scoreless innings to shutdown the Indians and lockdown a 7-1 Milwaukee win.

With the loss, the Indians dropped to 23-15 on the season and now find themselves tied for the AL Central lead with the Minnesota Twins.

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On Deck: The Indians and Brewers will continue their three-game series at Progressive Field Saturday. Aaron Civale will be on the mound for the Tribe. He is 3-4 with a 3.72 ERA so far this season. He’ll match up with Milwaukee ace Brandon Woodruff who is 2-3 with a 3.67 ERA in 2020. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. EST.