Cleveland Indians offense quiet as Bryan Shaw gives up hits to everyone

Reds 9, Indians 1

Box Score

Indians fall to 0-2

--

The title of this recap is, admittedly, a little dramatic.  Yes, the box score looks pretty ugly, and a lot of that can be attributed to Bryan Shaw's meltdown in the 6th inning.  Shaw's final line ended at 0.2 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, and 1 HBP and, if this were the regular season, I'm sure that the internet would be calling for Shaw to be traded, cut, or burned at the stake.  Thankfully, this is Spring Training and, much like Whose Line is it Anyway, the score doesn't matter.  In Shaw's defense, this was his first outing of the spring, so it's understandable that he would have some kinks to work out.  Let's hope that he can work out all of the kinks during the spring before the games start counting in April.

Shaw wasn't the only player to play for the Indians today, however.  Danny Salazar started the game, and he had a bit of difficulty of his own in terms of suppressing runs.  He gave up 3 runs, but he also struck out 5 batters in 2 innings of work.  There are no radar gun readings in Spring Training, so we don't know how fast his fastball was coming in.  Regardless, it seems like Salazar is already back to doing what he does best: striking people out.

On the offensive side of things, it was a slow day all around for the Tribe, as they amassed only 4 hits throughout the entire game.  The most action that the Tribe saw on the base paths this afternoon came in the fifth inning when Joey Butler started off the inning with a single.  Tyler Naquin would reach on a throwing error and Butler was able to move over to third, giving the Tribe two on and nobody out and a chance to cut into the deficit.   Giovanny Urshella flew out to right field, but Erik Gonzalez was able to hit the ball a little deeper and scored Butler on a sac fly.  Sadly, the Tribe was unable to muster much of anything for the rest of the day and went fairly quietly into the night.

On a more positive note, both Zach McAllister and Lonnie Chisenhall had a good day in some respects.  McAllister threw two scoreless innings, which is a good step towards getting back into the rotation, and Chisenhall added another assist by throwing out Tucker Barnhart at the plate in the fourth to prevent a run.

While it would have been nice to not lose by almost double digits, it's important to remember that a) this is the third game of spring training, b) players are still getting into the swing of the grind of a long season, and (most importantly) c) no one was injured.  Any spring game where you can safely say that last point is a good day.

Tomorrow, the Tribe tries to bounce back against the Chicago White Sox at Camelback Ranch.  First pitch will be at 3:05pm EST.