Here are 14 Walk-Off Thoughts after the Indians fell to the Minnesota Twins 6-3 on Saturday.
1. It was another outing in the wrong direction for ace Corey Kluber. After a slow start, Kluber was terrific in three straight outings and appeared to have corrected his course. His last two starts—in Houston this week and Saturday against the Twins—have been a step back.
2. Kluber on Saturday allowed four earned runs on seven hits and three walks and struck out seven. He’s now 2-5 with a 4.30 ERA.
3. It was also another case of Kluber pitching in a close game with little run support and eventually giving up the lead later in his outing. That’s been his story the last season-plus, always seeming in a 3-2 or 2-1 game. After the game, Indians manager Terry Francona talked about how, with average run support, a mistake here or there might be covered up.
4. Said Francona, “What I care about is today because you’re continuing, regardless of who you are, to try to get better and make your pitches. I think there have been times where he’s been really good, there have been times where we haven’t scored, there have been times where he’s made some mistakes. That’s pretty much with everybody. I still know when he pitches, we really like it. My guess is that he will continue to work on what he needs to, a little bit out of the stretch, things like that, and be the guy we always need. Some days, if we could score some runs, that mistake doesn’t matter. We talk about that all the time, being in a situation where if you make a mistake it doesn’t cost you a game. It just seems like he pitches in a lot of those games.”
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5. In the sixth inning, the umps delayed the game for a few moments because the rain/sleet was driving into the eyes of the hitter and catcher. Kluber said it didn’t really affect him, though he did plunk Brian Dozier on the next pitch and eventually gave up a sacrifice fly that made it 3-1 in the same inning that Rajai Davis slipped in the outfield and couldn’t haul in a Trevor Plouffe fly ball.
6. Said Kluber, “I was trying to throw a fastball inside. It ran back and caught a little bit too much of the plate. I didn't think it was that bad of a pitch. It caught just a little bit too much plate, I guess. … Pitching-wise, [the weather] really wasn't that bad. I've never heard of pausing a game, because of rain blowing in his eyes, but it didn't really affect me much.”
7. Gomes had a hard time seeing clearly, not something that’s ideal with 95-mph fastballs flying at your face. Said Gomes, “It was kind of like the rain picked up a little bit and it was blowing straight into the hitter, me and the umpire. So, actually, for that split-second, I was actually kind of glad, because it was actually kind of hard to see. I’m sure for Kluber, I’m sure he wasn’t very happy about that.”
8. Still, both teams played in the same conditions, and the Twins seemed right at home.
9. One of the only forms of good news for the Indians was that Yan Gomes drilled a ball to second base that was caught and later hit a solo home run to make it 6-3. Gomes’ hard-hit percentage has been down, per FanGraphs, and he’s still hitting well under .200. The hard contact was a good sign, and it was his second home run in as many days.
10. Said Francona on Gomes’ recent play, “I hope. I think the last swing does a lot for, hopefully, his confidence. Being a catcher, he got beat up today, a ball hit him after the hitter, a couple foul tips. I think any time he takes a good swing and gets rewarded for it, yeah, it’s good.”
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11. Gomes didn’t realize it was gone until he heard the fireworks.
12. Said Gomes, “When I first hit it, I thought I hit it well. I kind of looked over there and—was it Rosario in left? He started coming in. And then I kind of tossed my [bat] and said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ And then he kind of booked it backwards. I think I realized it when the fireworks went off that it was a home run.”
13. This was just the sixth loss in 20 games in which the Indians have scored first this season. The Indians are also now 7-10 against sub-.500 teams.
14. If you sat through that miserable weather, kudos to you. If you stayed through the ninth inning in that weather and a 6-3 loss, you deserve season tickets.