The Indians have lost five straight and 13 of their last 17 games. Wednesday night they fell to Oakland's Trevor Cahill and a five-run first inning deficit they could not overcome.
View full sizeIndians designated hitter Travis Hafner looks like he is in pain after striking out swinging to end the eight inning against the Oakland A's on Wednesday at Progressive Field. The Indians struck out eight times in the final three innings. CLEVELAND, Ohio — They scored a run. It was unearned, but they scored a run.
Maybe that will be the start of something small. In the Indians' world, small is a big thing right now.
Oakland thumped the Indians again Wednesday night. This time the score was 6-1 behind the pitching of Trevor Cahill, Craig Breslow and Henry Rodriguez. The Indians have lost five straight and 13 of their last 17 games.
Cahill (14-5, 2.43) kept throwing sinker after sinker. In the first two innings, the Indians put the leadoff hitter on base only to have the next batter hit into a double play.
How good is Cahill? He's been pitching all year and the opposition is still hitting only .201 against him.
After Cahill went seven innings, Craig Breslow, the left-hander who never received much of a look from Eric Wedge last year in Cleveland, struck out the side in the eighth. Then the A's rolled someone named Henry Rodriguez out of the pen for the ninth. He struck out Jayson Nix, Trevor Crowe and Matt LaPorta in order. In that flurry of pitches, he threw six at 101 mph. Nix, Crowe and LaPorta struck out on 101 mph fastballs.
"We've heard of him," said manager Manny Acta. "You think everyone in baseball doesn't know about a guy who throws 101 mph?"
The Indians were facing all that pitching and a 5-0 first-inning deficit that Mitch Talbot put on their shoulders. Talbot (8-11, 4.44) hasn't won since June 27 and he might not win again if keeps pitching like he has.
"It didn't help," said Acta, when asked if Emmel's call changed the inning. "The guy was 0-2. If he gets him right there, there's two out. But you can't blame the umpire for the two walks, the two singles and the double."
After Talbot walked Daric Barton and hit Suzuki, Jack Cust singled home a run. Mark Ellis walked to load the bases and Rajai Davis singled home another run. Kevin Kouzmanoff made it 5-0 with a three-run double off the top of the center field fence. Kouzmanoff was 4-for-42 entering the game.
"You don't want to be down 5-0 before you swing the bat," said Acta. "Especially against a guy who is competing for the Cy Young."
Talbot allowed one more run through the next five innings, but it didn't matter. The Indians offense has scored just four runs in losing the last five games. Opposing starting pitchers are 5-0 with a 0.50 ERA in those games.
"The first inning was just a struggle," said Talbot. "It felt like I was all over the place and the results showed I was all over the place."
The Indians scored their only run in the last 21 innings in the fifth. They needed an error to do it, but it was a sign of improvement. In Tuesday's 5-0 loss, Oakland made three errors in the second inning, but the Indians couldn't score.
Jason Donald started the fifth by reaching on Kouzmanoff's error at third. He took second on a ground out, but Michael Brantley lined out to short. Asdrubal Cabrera singled him home and was then tagged out in a rundown between first and second to end the inning.
Cahill just kept going. He walked Shin-Soo Choo to start the sixth, but retired Travis Hafner. Nix singled, but Crowe hit into his second double play of the game. In the seventh, Cahill struck out the last two men he faced. It started a run in which the Indians made their last eight outs on strikeouts. Maybe they were desperate.
Choo reached base four straight times Wednesday on three hits and a walk. In his last 11 games, he's hitting .372 (16-for-43).
"The way our offense is going, I'm surprised they keep pitching to him," said Acta. "He keeps showing us how good he is."
To reach this Plain Dealer Reporter: phoynes@plaind.com, 216-999-51587