The Indians were outscored, 21-5, in losing three straight games to the Reds from Tuesday through Thursday.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Indians played the Cincinnati Reds in the finale of a two-game series Thursday. Here is a capsule look from The Plain Dealer reporter Dennis Manoloff:
Game: 115.
Opponent: Reds.
Location: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati.
Time of day: Night.
Time elapsed: 2 hours, 35 minutes.
Attendance: 31,862.
Result: Reds 4, Indians 0.
Records: Reds 59-56, Indians 57-58.
GPS required: The Tribe fell to an odoriferous 23-36 on the road.
Queen City nightmare: The Tribe has lost eight in a row at GABP.
Broom service: The Reds swept the series. They won the season series, 3-1, and secured the coveted Ohio Cup.
The Reds dominated the final three meetings. They won, 9-2, Tuesday in Cleveland and 8-3 on Wednesday at GABP. They held a 33-17 advantage in hits over the three games.
Reds starting pitchers, all right-handers, toyed with Tribe batters in each victory. On Tuesday, Johnny Cueto crafted a 117-pitch complete game. On Wednesday, Mat Latos had a shutout through seven innings and finished with three runs allowed in 7 2/3.
On Thursday, Homer Bailey gave up four hits in seven before becoming a spectator. Bailey (9-5, 3.71 ERA) commanded the fastball to four corners and used a nasty splitter.
Cueto is one of MLB's best, but Latos and Bailey, while good, don't intimidate. And the Indians are supposed to be better equipped to deal with righties than lefties, anyway.
Outclassed: It would be one thing if the Indians simply were shut down by superb starting pitching for three nights. The sad reality for the Indians (and, by extension, their fans) is, the Reds dictated terms all over the field. The Reds pitched better, hit better, defended better, ran the bases better and hustled more.
Bottom line: One team played hungry; the other, #zombiebaseball.
Oh, by the way: The Reds were sans injured first baseman Joey Votto and second baseman Brandon Phillips. Among the Reds who caused problems for the Indians over three days were non-stars Ramon Santiago, Brayan Pena, Zack Cozart and Kristopher Negron.
Settling the matter quickly: The outcome Thursday effectively was determined in the first inning.
The Tribe had a single, double and walk but failed to score.
Jason Kipnis led off with single on an 0-2 pitch. David Murphy grounded sharply to first baseman Todd Frazier, who triggered a double play. Michael Brantley, hitting with 99-percent hands because something is not right with one of his legs, doubled to right. Carlos Santana walked.
Yan Gomes, who entered as Cleveland's hottest hitter, struck out in three pitches. He took a strike, fouled and swung through a fastball up and in.
In the Cincinnati half, speedster Billy Hamilton led off by punching an 0-1 pitch from lefty T.J. House to left for a single. Hamilton largely had been a non-factor in the previous three games; that was about to change.
Lefty Jay Bruce, in a 1-2 count, beat the shift with an infield single to the left side. Third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall moved to his right to field the ball in the space usually occupied by the shortstop. As Chisenhall threw to first baseman Santana, Hamilton raced for third. Santana's throw across eluded a diving Chisenhall and skipped out of play. Hamilton scored and Bruce advanced to third.
House needed to be the clear target for Santana but did not appear to be prepared for the throw.
House retired the next two without Bruce going anywhere, but Ryan Ludwick singled through the hole at short to make it 2-0.
Outsmarting themselves: Over four days, Bruce burned the Indians' shifts not once, not twice...but five times. Five of his six hits traveled through areas vacated because of unconventional defenses.
Inexcusable: The Reds capitalized on more bad Tribe defense to take a 3-0 lead in the second.
With two outs and none on, Bailey singled. Bailey finished 1-for-2 and is hitting .146. Even if Bailey were Rick Rhoden, House can't be giving up a hit in that situation.
Hamilton lined to left-center for what should have been a single -- except that the hop caught Nick Swisher flat-footed and shot past him, enabling Bailey to lumber around the bases. Hamilton checked in at third with a triple; realistically, it was a single and two-base error.
Tacking on: Cincinnati scored its final run in the sixth. Negron's two-out single drove in Frazier. Reds batters continued to punish the Tribe with two outs.
More miscues: The Indians committed three errors. Santana dropped a pop-up for his second and Chisenhall uncorked a wild throw.
Santana went 1-for-13 in the four games against Cincinnati; Chisenhall, 1-for-15.
Decent performance: House allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out five.
Good performance: Tribe righty reliever C-C Lee pitched two hitless innings and whiffed three.