Indians blow lead late while we all watch Game of Thrones

I can’t believe you’re making me do this.

Anyway, I’m gonna go ahead and recap a game now and not mention something else I watched tonight.

The Indians lost tonight, 4-1.

For a full six innings, anyone on the Carlos Carrasco worry train could have politely gotten off. He shut down one of the league’s best offenses tonight with a killer mix of his change-up and slider — saved a couple times by the quick reflexes of Roberto Perez’s glove bailing him out. For most of the night, anyway.

Carrasco cruised through the first six innings, striking out seven and holding the Astros to just a handful of hits, which combined with Carlos Santana’s early lead-off home run, looked enough to let the Indians squeak out a victory. Prior to the seventh inning, only one ball was hit over 100 miles per hour by the Astros, and it was a groundout by Josh Reddick. Unfortunately, the one to come after was a killer three-run shot in the seventh, which gave the Astros a lead they would never give back.

Santana’s home run shouldn’t go down as just a footnote, either. The numbers weren’t spectacular — just your run of the mill 96.6 mile-per-hour shot, you know — but it broke a 1-for-24 slump for the Indians’ most consistent hitter this season.

For my money, the most impressive thing offensively was seeing Jake Bauers take the ball the other way a couple times. For all the bellyaching I do about Yandy Diaz being traded, Bauers is slowly but surely turning into a quality return at a much younger age. He had the hardest-hit ball of the game at 108.1 miles per hour and just looked good at the plate.

Of what I saw, of course. Maybe he sucked in his last couple at-bats. He did strike out for the second out of the pivotal ninth inning, after all. And it looks like he chased a couple really ugly pitches. But the rest of his night, much like Carlos Carrasco’s prior to the seventh inning, went pretty well.

Jose Ramirez put a charge into a couple balls as well, including a rocket that went just foul and almost put a hole in the building towering over left field.

To sum up my thoughts on this game:

Just remember to always watch your back.