Too little, too late as the Tribe falls short against the Twins

The first pitch was delayed two hours due to rain, but no one seemed to let the Cleveland Indians’ lineup know of the new start time, as the Tribe seemed to sleepwalk through most of the game en route to a 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins.

The Indians were held scoreless until the eighth inning, when Francisco Lindor homered and Leonys Martin delivered a sacrifice fly to score Michael Brantley — all against Twins reliever Trevor Hildenberger — cutting the Twins lead from 3-0 down to 3-2.

Yan Gomes singled to open the bottom of the ninth inning and even advanced to second with two outs on a passed ball, but Lindor struckout to end the game.

The unsolvable mystery of Adalberto Mejia

Were he to pitch exclusively against the Indians, Twins starter Adalberto Mejia would quite possibly be in contention for the AL Cy Young.

In the span of a week, the left hander has held the Tribe scoreless over 10 innings pitched, allowing two hits and four walks and notching five strikeouts.

Mejia barely broke a sweat tonight. Francisco Lindor’s bloop single to right field to leadoff the game was the only hit he allowed all night. After allowing three basrunners in the first two innings, he retired the final 12 batters he faced before pulled at 68 pitches due to a pitch count wrist injury.

One bad inning dooms Carlos Carrasco

The first two innings had the makings of a rough night for Tribe starter Carlos Carrasco.

He loaded the bases in the first inning with two singles and a walk, but was able to escape with no damage done. Carrasco was not as fortunate in the second inning. He hit Logan Forsythe with a pitch and gave up a single up the middle to Jake Cave, before Twins catcher Mitch Garver crushed a four-seam fastball into the bleachers in left center for a three-run homer.

Carrasco settled down from there, going 6.1 innings and striking out eight batters. But a 3-0 lead for Minnesota was more than the Tribe’s toothless lineup could overcome.