I’m not sure if I ever remember the Cleveland Indians offense ever struggling as much as they have been the past couple of weeks. Usually, bad offensive production stems from inconsistency. For the Tribe, right now, it stems from being consistently bad, especially when runners are in scoring position.
↵The Indians have won 2 of their past 11 games in June. What is remarkable is the similarities in those two wins, which apparently represents the new way for the Indians to come away with a victory:
↵-Have Carlos Carrasco pitch shutout baseball
↵-Have the leadoff man in the 4th inning reach third base to start things off, and then have the following batter drive him in. Believe it or not, this did happen in both wins.
↵-Have Chris Perez close things out.
Boom. The guaranteed formula to 1-0 victories.
↵Seriously, though, the Indians’ offense needs to wake up quickly and start giving their stout pitching staff some breathing room early on in games. Cleveland starts a three game series with the Detroit Tigers tonight, and if they fail to execute with runners in scoring position, they will relinquish their hold of first place in the division.