Quick Recap
White Sox P Derek Holland threw a dominant six innings, allowing only one hit.
Tribe skipper Terry Francona said Holland established his fastball early in the game and it set him up to have a good performance.
"After that, he started throwing a back-foot breaking ball, a change-up," he said during a post-game interview. "He put the fastball in our heads and went to his off-speed. He was really good."
Francona said Indians hitters had some hard contact, but couldn't find the gaps.
"We hit a few balls hard, (but) on a night we needed something to drop, it didn't," he said. "We really didn't have a whole lot going against him, he did a really good job against us."
Holland walked four and struck out four, but kept the Tribe scoreless. The Indians lone hit against Holland came in the bottom of the sixth when Francisco Lindor (who else, right?) broke up the no-hit bid with a lead-off double. Carlos Santana led off the bottom ofthe eighth with a single, followed by another double from Lindor, but the Tribe came away with only one run in the inning, after a sacrifice ground out from Michael Brantley. Edwin Encarnacion struck out and Jose Ramirez grounded out to first to end the inning and end the Indians last threat to come from behind for a victory.
Player of the Game
Danny Salazar: Salazar gave up one hit in the first inning, but no harm was done. Things looked like they could get ugly though in the second, as Salazar walked Cody Asche, gave up a double to Avisail Garcia and a single to Matt Davidson. Luckily, Salazar only yielded two runs in the inning, as he struck out Tyler Saladino and Robert Perez was able to throw out Leury Garcia at second base for a double play.
Francona said he thought Salazar slowed himself down and worked himself into a a good groove after a rocky start.
"For the most part, I thought he was pretty good," he said.
As Francona said, Salazar settled in, pitching six innings, tying a career-high in strikeouts with 11 and walking only two. He also only gave up four hits. The young flamethrower is typically known for relying on his fastball, but tonight his change-up was his best pitch, throwing the off-speed offering 44 out of his 108 pitches. It's a shame the offense couldn't pick the right-handed pitcher up late in the game, he didn't deserve the loss tonight.
The Last Word
The Tribe fall back to .500, with a 4-4 record. It was a disappointing night for the offense once again. The Indians tallied only three hits, with many hitters looking puzzled at times. Yandy Diaz who had shown positive flashes at the plate, was 0-for-3 with a walk, earning a golden sombrero with three strikeouts. Diaz wasn't the only player to struggle at the plate, as the Indians struck out nine times and went 3-for-30 at the plate, a paltry .100 average. Lindor would be the offense's player of the game, tallying two doubles, but the rest of the lineup needs to pick up the slack. But, the beauty of baseball is that the Indians still have 154 more chances to walk away with a win and they'll have another chance at Progressive Field tomorrow at 6:10 p.m. as Josh Tomlin is to face off against Miguel Gonzalez.
Francona said several Tribe hitters are not yet in mid-season form.
"Carlos (has) really cooled off, Edwin hasn't got going yet, Jose has not had a ton of hits," he said. "That'll change. Everybody wants it to change yesterday, myself included, but you've got to be patient, it'll change."
Quick programming note, Luke Wickiser will handle the game recap for tomorrow's contest, as I will be in the stadium in person to catch the game!
Not So Fun Stat of the Night
The Indians are now 0-for-17 with runners in scoring position during this series with the White Sox. It's tough to win games without getting hits in clutch situations.
Additional note
Francona said Lonnie Chisenhall is likely to be activated tomorrow, so be ready for a roster move. In not so great news, Jason Kipnis was removed from his rehab assignment at Double-A Akron after getting hit in the hand. Early reports state Kipnis was taken out of the game as a precautionary measure. It will be nice to get Chisenhall and Kipnis back in the lineup, as Yandy Diaz looks like he could use some more seasoning in the minors. (
***Addition to the additional note - Jordan Bastian, Tribe beat writer for MLB.com, reported that Kipnis is unlikely to play in a minor league game Thursday. We will continue to monitor the situation.
Attendance: 15,628
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