CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Indians are 1-1 with 58 games to play. It’s still a decent number of games for a team to find itself. But if the Indians want to qualify for the expanded postseason, they’re going to have to start hitting.
It’s hard to say they have to improve their hitting because they really haven’t hit much of anything. They won Friday’s season opener over the Royals, 2-0, on five hits. They scored both runs in the fifth inning.
They lost the second game of the season Saturday, 3-2, in 10 innings to the Royals. They scored both their runs in the third inning.
They were victimized by some good Kansas City execution and MLB’s new rule that starts every half inning of an extra inning game with a man on second base.
It looked so easy when the Royals did it in the top of the 10th. Pinch-hitter Erik Mejia bunted pinch-runner Brett Phillips to third base. Then Maikel Franco hit a high breaking ball from James Karinchak to center field to score Phillips for a 3-2 lead. A sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly. Pretty basic stuff.
The Indians had a chance to do the same in the bottom of the 10th. In fact, they had a chance to win it.
Pinch-runner Greg Allen took second base to start the inning. Greg Holland hit Bradley Zimmer on the foot to put runners on first and second with the top of the order up. The top of the order is supposed to be the dragon’s den with switch-hitters Cesar Hernandez, Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor and Carlos Santana ready to pounce.
Holland, however, made Hernandez, Ramirez and Lindor hit left-handed and struck them out in order to save the game. That’s how a team goes 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Manager Terry Francona noted that Kansas City’s bunt defense was very aggressive. So instead of bunting, he went for the win, thinking Hernandez, Ramirez or Lindor could punch a ball through the infield to score Allen and Zimmer. That did not happen.
“They were extremely aggressive with what they were running with their bunt plays,” said Francona. “So we’re a hit away from winning the game, was our thinking. We were OK starting out to bunt, but if you’re bunting into an out, that first baseman was so far in that that’s really difficult to convert on something like that.”
The Indians have scored four runs and are 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position over their first two games of the season. They are hitting .145 (9-for-62) as a team.
There were two big moves with the offense in Spring Training II. One was dropping Lindor from leadoff to the No.3 spot in the lineup. The second was hitting four switch-hitters at top top of the lineup.
Lindor is 1-for-9 and has stranded seven runners. Hernandez, Ramirez, Lindor and Santana are a combined 5-for-30 (.167) with two RBI. Santana is 0-for-6 in the cleanup spot.
“For my part, I definitely have to make an adjustment,” Lindor told reporters on a Zoom call after the game. " I’ve probably swung at five strikes in nine at-bats. It’s on me.
“We shouldn’t have lost this game today. We had plenty of opportunities with guys on base today and didn’t come through. I put a lot of this loss on me.”
Lindor felt confident that the Indians would win the game in the bottom of the 10th.
“When we had Zimmer at the plate, I felt good,” he said. “We have a good team. We’re going to hit. Their pitching staff was doing a good job. Hats off to them.”
Lindor did make a great play at shortstop against Salvador Perez to end the sixth inning. Santana completed the play with a nice pick at first.
“I told Perez if I’m not getting any hits, nobody is getting any hits,” said Lindor.
Right-hander Brady Singer made his big-league debut Saturday against the Indians. The Royals rushed their No.1 pick in 2018 into the rotation because several of their pitchers have been hit by the coronavirus. In five innings, Singer struck out seven and allowed two runs on three hits.
Francona was impressed by Singer, but said the Indians helped out every Royals pitcher by swinging at pitches outside the strike zone.
“We’re gonna have to be a little more disciplined regardless of who’s pitching,” he said.
The Indians struck out 15 times against against five Royals pitchers on Saturday. Roberto Perez and Ramirez struck out three times each.
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