Trevor Bauer knocked out early, Indians lose to Orioles 5-1

Orioles 5, Indians 1

Box Score

Indians fall to 56-39

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Usually an extra day of rest is very helpful for a starting pitcher, but for Trevor Bauer, extra rest has been more of a hindrance than a help. Coming into tonight’s game, opposing hitters are batting .301/.370/.442 against Bauer when he’s pitching on five days’ rest (compared to .183/.241/.292 in starts with normal - four days’ - rest).

So would Trevor Bauer buck the trend tonight? No. He went just four innings, allowing five runs on five hits and four walks, with four of those runs coming via the home run. The big blow came in the first inning, when Mark Trumbo launched a three-run homer on a hanging curve. Manny Machado would hit the other home run off Bauer, this one coming off a high fastball. The combination of pitches high in the strike zone along with pitching from behind was Bauer’s downfall, especially against a lineup that feasts on mistakes.

Dylan Bundy, who was making just his second start this season, was supposed to be the pitcher that would leave the game first. Bundy had been pitching in relief all season, his first major-league action since 2012, but with LGFT Ubaldo Jimenez a mess, the Orioles made the decision to put former top prospect into the rotation. And while Bundy had to deal with a couple jams, he did an excellent job to get through five innings. He pitched around a Tyler Naquin double in the second (key pitch: getting Abraham Almonte to hit a weak pop fly to the third baseman with Naquin on third), then minimized a Tribe rally in the fifth, when he got Carlos Santana to hit double play. The Indians scored their only run on twin killing, but at the time it seemed that the team was poised for bigger things.

After Bundy left, the Orioles went with Odrisamer Despaigne, who has pitched in long relief since joining the team in June. But on this occasion he was more a tandem starter than a reliever, for he almost finish the game, coming within an out of clinching a rare four-out save. Those 3.2 innings of relief should help the Orioles the rest of the series, as the only member of the back end of the bullpen to pitch was closer Zach Britton, and he only needed 3 pitches to record the final out of the game.

Not only did the Indians lose the game, but they also lost Juan Uribe after he was struck in the helmet with a pitch. The ball hit Uribe flush on the ear flap, and I was amazing that he stayed on his feet. He appeared to want to stay in the game, but Francona and the Tribe training staff pulled him from the game for precautionary reasons. The team later described the injury as a "head contusion" but the bigger concern is whether he has a concussion.

I suppose the one good thing that happened tonight was that the bullpen did keep Baltimore off the board. Cody Anderson, who was called up yet again today, threw 1.1 scoreless innings, though he was bailed out by Dan Otero in the seventh inning. Austin Adams pitched a scoreless eighth, a welcome improvement over his outing in Kansas City.

But on the whole, not much of redeeming value happened tonight.