Bullpen can’t give up a 15-run home run, so the Indians decide to win this one

Where do you even start with a game like this?

Well, let’s start with the negatives. Carlos Carrasco only went 5.0 innings and had to relinquish control to the bullpen. Sure he struck out 7 and only walked 1, but if our starters can’t get through more than five innings, we’re toast. Have you seen the bullpen lately? Adam Plutko came in in relief because Tito doesn’t trust anyone else in the bullpen and he promptly gave up a home run on his fourth pitch of the evening. But that wasn’t the end of it. No, Tito again left a bullpen arm in too long and Plutko gave up another home run, this time of the 2-run variety, in the eighth.

Seriously, this is getting old.

Before that, Cookie gave up a triple in the fifth inning to Billy Hamilton. A lackadaisical throw from Tyler Naquin allowed the run to score on a sac fly by Jose Peraza. Hamilton didn’t even slide he was so confident in Naquin’s inability to make a good throw.

But the shenanigans don’t stop there. Bases loaded, one out in the bottom of the seventh, Greg Allen hits a soft grounder to Peraza who goes to turn two. The call was out at first and Tito didn’t even bother to challenge the play when it was fairly evident that Allen was safe at first. It’s the bottom of the seventh and you’re a game away from being swept by the Reds. If that’s not a time to use your challenge, I don’t know what is.

From a lineup perspective, I truly don’t get what Tito was doing in the seventh. He took Edwin Encarnacion out of the game for a pinch hitter. That pinch hitter was...Roberto Perez. Are you kidding me? Two things. One: Perez has been the worst hitter on the team all year and Edwin is 4th in the AL in RBIs. And two: you now have no catcher on the bench. I’ve been a Tito loyalist since day 1, but now even I’m questioning my allegiance.

Some people will say that I’m being “too negative” or “trying to hard to be funny” instead of focusing on the fact that the Indians scored 19 runs (their most in a single game since 2013). Well to them I say “go to sleep mom, I’m trying my best”. But if you really want to focus on some of the positive aspects (I can hardly remember any tbh) of tonight’s game, here they are in tweet form:

If I have to say something good about tonight, I guess I would say that this was one of the best games all season and showed what can happen when every single thing goes right for the Cleveland Indians. It also highlighted how lucky Cleveland fans are to get to watch Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez on a nightly basis. If I had to describe the game in one word, it would be:

Solid.