The good news is, the Indians won their fifth straight game today, beating the Kansas City Royals 8-7, and in the process rallying for three in the eighth to tie it and winning it in the bottom of the ninth on a triple by Cord Phelps.
The bad news is that Carlos Carrasco was rocked pretty hard after being handed a 3-1 lead, leaving in the middle of a fifth inning Royals’ rally that saw the Tribe suddenly down 7-3 midway through the contest.
Cleveland battled back with one in the fifth, and then the aforementioned late-inning magic, to move to 12-11 on the spring.
Doug Mathis, Rafael Perez and Tony Sipp combined for four innings of two-hit, scoreless ball to give the Indians a chance, with Sipp getting the victory, his first decision of the exhibition season.
The offense was fine, pounding out thirteen hits, led by Shin-Soo Choo with three hits. Michael Brantley and Carlos Santana added two hits, while Choo and Travis Hafner each drove in a pair of runs.
Now to get some consistency out of the starters before breaking camp and heading north (or, rather, northeast) for the beginning of the season in nine more days.
Tomorrow the Tribe takes on the World Champion San Francisco Giants in a 10:05 game under the lights.