Brooks Baseball PitchFX - Roberto Hernandez
Brooks Baseball PitchFX - Chris Seddon
If not for Brent Lillibridge's double in the sixth inning, the Indians were just a tainted infield single away from being no-hit by Brett Anderson and the Oakland bullpen. Here are the complete highlights of the Tribe offense, for those who missed them:
- Bottom 5th: M. Brantley singled to first
- Bottom 6th: B. Lillibridge doubled to deep center, J. Kipnis walked
- Bottom 7th: C. Santana walked
- Bottom 9th: C. Santana walked
There was nothing until the bottom of the fifth because until then the Indians were being mowed down by Anderson. The Oakland starter was making just his second appearance after a year out because of Tommy John surgery. Usually pitchers coming back from the surgery tend to have some problems with command (like Jake Westbrook had in early 2010), but tonight it looked as though Anderson had been pitching regularly the entire season.
An article currently appearing on indians.com is titled "A's, Indians heading in different directions," which is perhaps the understatement of the year. At the All-Star break, the Indians had a better record than the Athletics. Yes, really - here's the link to prove it if you don't believe me (and I wouldn't blame you if you didn't). In the second half, the A's have gone 27-14 (best in the AL) and the Indians have gone 11-32 (obviously worst in the AL). Run differential: +37 for Oakland, -107 for Cleveland. Oakland hasn't had much of an offense this year, but they've outscored the Indians by 55 runs in second half. So while the pitching has been (justifiably) maligned, the offense shouldn't escape blame either.
Roberto Hernandez had a short outing, allowing 3 runs in 2.1 innings, and left the game with an ankle injury. There wasn't an individual pitch that seemed to cause the injury, and I couldn't tell how long Hernandez was trying to pitch with it. all game or just in that third inning. He allowed a run in each of his three innings, and was uncharacteristically getting his outs in the air (6 air outs, 2 ground outs). Hernandez is listed as day-to-day with the ankle injury, and may not have to miss a start.
Credit must be given to Chris Seddon for his 4.2 innings of scoreless relief. The Indians have been lacking a true long reliever all season long; usually when a Cleveland starter leaves early, the front end of the bullpen would make a bad situation worse. But in this case, Seddon, along with Cody Allen, kept Oakland off the board over the last 6.2 innings of the game, allowing just 4 base runners between them.
Game Thread Stats
Roll Call: Ryan, johnf34, dgcambridge, gte619n, VA tribe fan, hans, Joel D, emily522, Matt Y., emd2k3, palcal, westbrook, themadlibs, Brad D, ahowie, jhon, PortlandVinny, kennesawmountainwahoo, woodsmeister, APV
Total Users: 20
Total Posts: 191
Total Threads: 1
Name # of Posts Ryan 48 gte619n 29 johnf34 18 westbrook 17 APV 14 themadlibs 12 ahowie 6 palcal 5 kennesawmountainwahoo 5 Joel D 5 jhon 5 PortlandVinny 4 emd2k3 4 dgcambridge 4 emily522 4 hans 4 Brad D 3 VA tribe fan 2 Matt Y. 1 woodsmeister 1
Source: FanGraphs