Cleveland Indians’ Mike Napoli watches his solo home run off Houston Astros starting pitcher Mike Fiers during the fifth inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, in Cleveland.
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The Indians got a run back in the bottom half of the frame, though, when Francisco Lindor pulled out another Houdini slide to leg out a double ahead of a strong throw from Colby Rasmus and was driven in two batters later by Jose Ramirez.
Toronto lost at the New York Yankees, missing a chance to extend its lead in the AL East, where the top three teams are separated by just two games. Cleveland manager Terry Francona dubbed it a “bullpen day”, and used eight pitchers in total.
The loss snapped a six-game winning streak for the Indians and cut their lead over the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central Division to 4 1/2 games.
Cleveland’s Corey Kluber, who won the award in 2014, was supposed to face Houston’s Dallas Keuchel, who won the award past year.
Mike Clevinger got the start, slated for around 50 pitches, and lasted just 1.2 innings due to some command issues before giving way to Jeff Manship. Kluber allowed five runs in 2 2/3 innings against the Astros on May 9, his shortest start of the season. A successful double steal by Altuve and Correa put runners at second and third. Right-hander Brad Peacock will replace Keuchel in the rotation, but he’ll need to have a considerable impact to help the rest of the Astros ailing starters.
“You have to take advantage of any and all opportunities against him”, Hinch said of Kluber.
Evan Gattis then hit a grounder to second baseman Jason Kipnis, who threw wildly to first for his second error of the game, allowing Altuve to score to make it 5-2.
Houston went ahead 4-1 in the third on Alex Bregman’s RBI triple single off Kluber, who settled in and retired 15 of 17 before leaving after seven. He finished with nine strikeouts.
The Astros called up Bregman, who has reached base in 19 consecutive games, from Triple-A Fresno on July 25. In 55 big league games, the 28-year-old is 11-16 with a 4.67 ERA.
“David’s upside is real and we’re excited about it”, Hinch said.
It had been seven full seasons since a Cleveland player hit 30 home runs, after Grady Sizemore went deep 33 times in 2008.
The Indians produced four hits over the first two innings, but only one run off Astros starter, right-handed reliever Brad Peacock, who was recalled from Triple-A Fresno to replace injured 2015 Cy Young award victor Dallas Keuchel. He’s expected to speak with the media Friday when the Astros begin a three-game series with the Cubs. He has made five relief appearances for Houston this year, posting a 3.86 ERA over seven innings.
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Indians: RHP Carlos Carrasco, who struck out 11 and pitched 7 1/3 shutout innings in his last outing, starts for the fifth time in his career against Houston. The do-it-all man for the Astros got himself an 0-2 curveball on the inner half and drilled a majestic homer over the right field wall.
