Sonny Gray silences woeful Cleveland Indians offense

Athletics 2, Indians 0

box score

Indians fall to 42-46

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The Tribe had no answer to A's ace Sonny Gray today. A terrific defensive performance wasn't enough to offset a terrible offensive display as the Tribe went down in the series decider.

Corey Kluber had another very good outing, albeit one in which he was definitely helped some great fielding, especially early doors. First David Murphy stole a HR away from Stephen Vogt on the right field wall and then Giovanny Urshela went into the crowd on a fly popout. And in the 2nd inning a Josh Reddick leadoff single was nullified by a Lindor-Ramirez-Santana double play.

However, after a Billy Burns leadoff walk in the 4th, Vogt crushed another one to RF (but way over Murphy this time) for a two-run homer. Kluber badly missed his location on that occasion and paid the ultimate price.

Kluber had another narrow escape in the 6th. With one out, he seemed to be content to pitch around Vogt this time, allowing a walk, but a Ben Zobrist single to RF put runners on the corners. However, he managed to induce a groundball which was converted into a double play by Santana and Lindor, and then returned for a 1-2-3 7th and 8th before Kyle Crockett was brought in for the 9th.

Sonny Gray raced through the Tribe's lineup in order first time around. The Tribe finally got a hit in the 4th, but Lindor's single down the middle came to naught when Michael Brantley grounded into a double play. A Murphy leadoff walk in the 5th also came to nothing, and after a 1-2-3 6th and 7th Sonny Gray was completely dominating.

As the game headed towards its (seemingly inevitable) conclusion, Urshela managed a two-out single in the 8th (just the second Tribe hit of the day), but the Indians were unable to mount any real kind of rally as they limped to a woeful shutout defeat.

Win Expectancy Chart

Source: FanGraphs

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