The Aftermath: Three Takeaways from the Indians' 6-2 Loss to Houston
The Cleveland Indians had their six-game winning streak snapped by the Houston Astros on “bullpen day.”
As we discussed on Monday afternoon, the Cleveland Indians used an odd approach to the first game of their four-game series with the Houston Astros on Monday night at Progressive Field. Cleveland manager Terry Francona dubbed it a “bullpen day,” and used eight pitchers in total.
While in theory this idea goes along with the direction the game is headed thanks to advanced stats and copious new amounts of data thanks to Statcast and PITCHf/x, the execution of the Indians’ adventure in bullpenning still needs some refining, as they fell by a score of 6-2.
Mike Clevinger got the start, slated for around 50 pitches, and lasted just 1.2 innings due to some command issues before giving way to Jeff Manship. After Manship, who threw 0.2 innings, Perci Garner (2.2), Joe Colon, (0.2), Dan Otero (0.2), Bryan Shaw (0.1), Cody Anderson (1.1), and Josh Tomlin all took a turn on the mound.
After striking out George Springer to start the game, Clevinger walked Alex Bregman and had a double smoked off the left field wall by Jose Altuve to put the Astros ahead 1-0.
In the third, Houston extended the lead to 3-0 after Manship issued a leadoff walk to Springer and grooved a fastball to Bregman that cleared the 19-foot wall in left field.
The Indians got a run back in the bottom half of the frame, though, when Francisco Lindor pulled out another Houdini slide to leg out a double ahead of a strong throw from Colby Rasmus and was driven in two batters later by Jose Ramirez.
The Astros’ lead was cut to 3-2 in the fifth inning when Mike Napoli launched a pitch right down the heart of the plate from starter Mike Fiers down the left field line and off the foul pole, his 30th home run of the season.
But the wheels came off in the top of the seventh for Cleveland, with Houston scoring three times as mental and physical errors, walks, and some lucky hops doomed Otero, Shaw, and ultimately the Indians’ winning streak.
Party On
The longball for Napoli was a while coming, and it was loaded with all kinds of significance for him and for the Tribe. It was the first homer he had hit since August 11th, a span of 21 games played and 73 at-bats, and the first extra-base hit in 17 games and 55 ABs.
It had been seven full seasons since a Cleveland player hit 30 home runs, after Grady Sizemore went deep 33 times in 2008. Napoli is also the first right-handed batter to hit that mark since Ellis Burks in 2002.
Napoli’s career-high for homers is 30, which he hit in 2011 with the Texas Rangers, and it seems he’s a good bet to break through that threshold sometime in September. More importantly, the Indians need their cleanup hitter to find a groove and keep driving in runs down the stretch.
Perci Got It Goin’
While the expanded rosters of September do not extend into the postseason, one call-up making a case to be in uniform for the playoffs is Garner. After shaking off the butterflies of his MLB debut last Wednesday, the 27-year old turned a few heads against the Astros.
Garner worked his 2.2 innings, yielding just one hit and striking out two, and the movement on his pitches was impressive. That the big righty throws in the mid-90s with that movement, and complements it with a mid-80s curveball that he commanded well, warrants a closer look.
To illustrate, Bregman reached on an error in the fourth, putting a runner on base for Altuve, who happens to be arguably the best hitter in the American League. Garner immediately induced a double play off Altuve’s bat, then followed that up by striking out Carlos Correa swinging.
That’s not easy for a veteran, let alone a guy making his second big league appearance, and makes the imagination run towards what else he could be capable of.
Another Top Prospect in Houston
Bregman was the second overall pick in the 2015 MLB draft out of Louisiana State University, so he made it to the big leagues in a hurry. After going 2-for-4 with a homer, two RBIs, and two runs scored on Monday night, it’s not hard to understand why.
But, he wasn’t an instant success. In his first 10 major league games, Bregman went just 2-for-38 at the plate, but in the 28 games since, he’s hitting .333 with 10 doubles, seven homers, and 26 RBIs. All seven of those longballs have come in his last 19 games after he went homerless in the first 19.
Bregman is one of the many offensive weapons the Tribe will have to contend with in this series, but after Monday’s loss the starting rotation will be back in action. Corey Kluber is scheduled to take the ball on Tuesday, which usually means the Indians’ chances for a win are pretty good.
More from Wahoo's on First
This article originally appeared on 
