Indians lose again to White Sox, fall behind 2 games in Wild Card race

Tough night. Tough loss.

The Indians entered Thursday night’s game already 1.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the second AL Wild Card spot. The 8-0 loss to the White Sox means the Tribe falls 2 games behind with only three games to play. Not good.

It was not a fun game to watch for us Indians fans.

Starting pitcher Aaron Civale struggled for the first time all year. It’s amazing how good Civale has been for the Indians, entering the night’s action with a 2.34 ERA. Civale hadn’t allowed more than 2 earned runs in any of his first nine starts.

After throwing three scoreless innings to start the game, the wheels fell off in the fourth for the young right-hander. After a Jose Abreau groundout, Yoan Moncada singled and Zack Collins walked. James McCann followed and smashed an 86 mph cutter for a three-run-homer. Daniel Palka hit Civale’s next pitch deep into the right field bleachers for another homer, and well that was pretty much that. The White Sox scored two more runs in the fifth, one in the sixth, and their final run in the seventh.

The Tribe’s offense was busy racking up a total of four hits against Luis Ruiz (a spot starter after Dylan Cease got injured warming up), Josh Osich, Jimmy Cordero, Jace Fry, and Hector Santiago. Four hits against those guys?!? Yikes.

Next up is a trip to Washington D.C. to face the Nationals in the Tribe’s last regular season series. Let’s hope for a miracle finish.