The Indians scored a pair of runs on the play in the third inning that led to the ejection of Houston manager A.J. Hinch. That’s because it hit Chisenhall’s swinging bat and was redirected into foul territory. The ball shuttled to the left and settled in front of the Indians’ dugout, but Joyce didn’t see it and allowed play to continue.
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Instead of going to get the ball and “playing to the whistle”, Houston Astros catcher Jason Castro made a decision to stand around and argue that the ball did, in fact, go off Lonnie’s bat.
For those at Progressive Field on Thursday, that was likely true in a game that included a good deal of confusion, a delay caused by an incorrect call, a lengthy delay caused by rain, a couple of odd scoring plays and, finally, a 10-7 Indians win.
Hinch said: “I think everybody in the ballpark saw the play the way it happened except for the four guys on the field”.
The Cleveland Indians benefited from a blown call Thursday in the bottom of the third inning when Francisco Lindor and Mike Napoli scored on what was ruled a wild pitch by home plate umpire Jim Joyce. The Astros dropped 2 1/2 games behind Baltimore for the final American League wild-card spot. Lindor finished with a three-hit game, his 23rd of the season, which is the most by an Indians hitter since 1936. A two-run triple by Abraham Almonte and a two-run home run by Santana extended the lead to 8-3.
Making his first major league start, Paulino (0-1) gave up four runs and four hits in three innings.
Colby Rasmus, the next batter, hit a two-run home run.
“It was a big ask for us to expect Paulino to go long”, Hinch said.
Hinch protested the ruling and was ejected by umpire Jim Joyce.
“I’m so happy I’ve got the first homer out of the way and I was able to drive home two runs with it”, Gurriel said through an interpreter. “Common sense loses again”, Hinch said. “I thought he started loosening up and his (velocity) had a little bit of an uptick after the first, but the third just took forever, which is why we went to the bullpen at that point”.
Hernan Perez had four hits and three RBI for the Brewers, who won their season-high fifth straight on the road and have won seven of their last eight games.
So when that mess was done, the Indians were left with a 4-1 lead and a whole lot of potential bad karma coming their way. Cody Allen tossed a flawless ninth for his 26th save.
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Indians: RHP Danny Salazar takes the hill to begin a three-game series at Minnesota. One of those teams is Detroit, which sends AL Rookie of the Year frontrunner Michael Fulmer (10-6, 2.77 ERA) to the mound to counter Kevin Gausman (7-10, 3.58), who’s been the most consistent pitcher amid the Orioles’ recent rotational shakes.
