The Cleveland Indians can't seem to get rolling offensively on Wednesday night, and trail 4-1 after five innings to the Seattle Mariners and lights-out pitcher Jason Vargas at Safeco Field.
Vargas, a 10-game winner a year ago, has been outstanding thus far, and has fanned six batters and yielded only three total hits through five innings. Vargas has also done much of his damage against the best the Indians have to offer, and has already struck out each of Cleveland's No. 3-7 hitters at least one time. With just 68 pitches thrown, Vargas is in a prime position to protect his lead and pitch well into the late innings if the Indians are unable to mount a rally.
At the other end of the spectrum, Cleveland pitcher Derek Lowe was completely wild in his time on the mound, issuing six walks and four earned runs in 4.1 innings before being pulled. Lowe threw 113 pitches, 63 for strikes, and was not able to strike out a single batter.
Cleveland's lone run of the evening was scored by No. 9 hitter Aaron Cunningham on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jason Kipnis, as the two have combined for 66% of their team's hits. The RBI represented Kipnis' eighth in just 10 games this season, as the 25-year-old youngster continues to assert himself as one of the game's brightest prospects at the second base position.
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