Cliff Lee pitching is typically a good thing. Cliff Lee pitching with an 8-1 lead is typically even better. 'Twas not the case last night, as the Indians pitching staff allowed 22 hits to the Detroit Tigers - most of which came after the fourth inning. Lee took an 8-2 lead into the fifth and proceeded to allow four runs.
You may be saying, "well, we still left with the lead," and you would be correct. But not to be outdone by Lee's rough inning, the trio of Eddie Mujica (who had been amazing coming into this game), Masa Kobayashi and Juan Rincon allowed six earned runs in a combined four innings pitched.
If you're wondering how there was not a blown save in this one, it was because Mujica came in when we were up four - thus not a save opportunity. Saved by the rule book. It's similar to how Joe Borowski only had a handful of blown saves last season though toting an ERA north of five.
But while we can point the finger at the bad stuff, we can't ignore the games at the plate by Asdrubal Cabrera, Ben Francisco and Kelly Shoppach. The three combined to go 13-for-20 with six RBI and seven runs scored. Shoppach alone recorded five hits - all for extra bases. Three doubles and two home runs later, and you have a back-up catcher that finished the month of July hitting .318/.384/.682 (OPS of 1.066). Pretty disgusting if you ask me. The five XB-hit game tied a major league record; and as Anthony Castrovince points out, the last AL player that achieved such was Lou Boudreau.
Cabrera's 4-for-7 night has his batting average up to .199, which is sad and uplifting at the same time. If he could somehow finish the season over .250 it would be a minor miracle.
With that said, it looks like we're not alonea€¦
You may be saying, "well, we still left with the lead," and you would be correct. But not to be outdone by Lee's rough inning, the trio of Eddie Mujica (who had been amazing coming into this game), Masa Kobayashi and Juan Rincon allowed six earned runs in a combined four innings pitched.
If you're wondering how there was not a blown save in this one, it was because Mujica came in when we were up four - thus not a save opportunity. Saved by the rule book. It's similar to how Joe Borowski only had a handful of blown saves last season though toting an ERA north of five.
But while we can point the finger at the bad stuff, we can't ignore the games at the plate by Asdrubal Cabrera, Ben Francisco and Kelly Shoppach. The three combined to go 13-for-20 with six RBI and seven runs scored. Shoppach alone recorded five hits - all for extra bases. Three doubles and two home runs later, and you have a back-up catcher that finished the month of July hitting .318/.384/.682 (OPS of 1.066). Pretty disgusting if you ask me. The five XB-hit game tied a major league record; and as Anthony Castrovince points out, the last AL player that achieved such was Lou Boudreau.
Cabrera's 4-for-7 night has his batting average up to .199, which is sad and uplifting at the same time. If he could somehow finish the season over .250 it would be a minor miracle.
With that said, it looks like we're not alonea€¦
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