Three home runs not enough as Cleveland Indians fall in Baltimore

Orioles 4, Indians 3

box score

Indians fall to 33-39

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Three home runs and ten hits should add up to more than three runs in a ball game.  Unfortunately for the Indians on Friday night, the math did not compute and that was all the Tribe could muster in their 4-3 loss to Baltimore.

The game's early scoring was marked by solo home runs.  A Brandon Moss moon shot to right field got the Indians on the board in the second inning.  MLB statcast projected the blast to have traveled 419 feet and that's possibly referring to the ball's height.  The home run was Moss' 12th of the year and his 36th run batted in.

In the bottom of the inning, Baltimore's J.J. Hardy tied the game when he connected on a 92 mph Corey Kluber fastball and homered to left field. Not to be outdone, Ryan Raburn hit a low hook of a home run in the fourth to give the Indians the lead once again.

Kluber, besides the Hardy homer, was really good early on, flashing his plus stuff and missing tons of bats.  Kluber had seven strikeouts through three innings and ten punchouts through five.  The sixth inning brought the Tribe's ace some issues however, starting with a Jimmy Paredes single and Chris Parmelee double.  After a J.J. Hardy sacrifice fly tied the game at two, a Ryan Flaherty BABIP single to center field plated Parmlee to give Baltimore the lead.  Kluber pitched a clean seventh inning and exited with a final line of three earned runs on seven hits with ten strikeouts and only one walk.

After a Carlos Santana golf shot home run in the top of the eighth inning tied the game, Marc Rzepczynski relieved Kluber and threw just three pitches.  Unfortunately all three went for hits, inluding a Chris Davis single that scored Paredes and gave the Orioles the lead again.  Bryan Shaw came in and cleaned up Scrabble's mess, but the damage was done.  In the top of the ninth, Zach Britton worked around a leadoff Mike Aviles single to close the game and send the Camden Yard fans home happy.

The loss gets pinned on Rzepczynski, who falls to 1-3 on the year.  A few positives include two hit games from Moss and Francisco Lindor (who looks more and more comfortable at the plate) and Jason Kipnis extending his hitting streak to 20.

Saturday's game will be big league start number two for Cody Anderson, who's coming off of a gem of a debut.  The Orioles counter with big right-hander Chris Tillman.  First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 ET.

Win Probability Chart

Source: FanGraphs

Roll Call

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