Tribe avoids second-straight no-hitter in ugly loss to Brewers
By: Sean Fitzgerald
A beautiful Sunday afternoon with clear, blue skies would make one guess it would be a good ballgame between the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers.
The Indians clearly didn’t get the memo, as The Brewers crushed the Tribe 11-1 and nearly no-hit Cleveland for the second straight day in front of 16,332 fans.
Aaron Civale got off to a rough start, with leadoff hitter Kolten Wong socking a solo blast 409 feet on a 1-2 pitch. Wong would add another homer in the eighth inning.
Eric Lauer, a Midview and Kent State alum, took the mound after Brandon Woodruff was scratched yesterday for the Brew Crew. He sent the side down in order, racking up two swinging strikeouts in the opening frame.
The Indians defense reared its ugly head on an Amed Rosario error, Luis Urias reaching third from the batter's box and Jace Peterson scoring for Milwaukee.
Civale yielded three total runs in the 2nd and a first pitch solo shot from Avisail Garcia going 411 feet to make it 5-0 in the third. The coup de grace came on a 407-foot blast from Manny Pina for a 7-0 Milwaukee beatdown. Garcia hit another home run in the eighth as well.
Civale got destroyed in his outing. He barely got through three innings, coughing up seven runs on seven hits with three homers. He walked two, struck out three and tossed 40 of 64 pitches into the strike zone. Civale was relieved by Francisco Perez.
With Eric Lauer throwing a no-hitter through five full innings, the Indians finally got a jolt with a one-out single in the sixth inning from Ryan Lavarnway to end the nightmare scenario of back-to-back no-hitters.
Oscar Mercado and Myles Straw added their own base hits to make for three consecutive Indians hits, with Straw’s single scoring Lavarnway.
Lauer finished the day with a solid 5 ⅓ innings pitched, giving up a run on three hits and issuing one walk. Lauer punched out eight hitters, throwing 59 of 88 pitches for strikes.
The Brewers bullpen held the Indians bats mostly in check after Lauer was pulled, completing the sweep of a team that looked totally overmatched.
------Tidbits------
Injury update on Tellez
Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Rowdy Tellez was placed in the 10-day injured list prior to today’s game with a right patella strain. He was pulled in the bottom of the second inning in Saturday night’s game.
The Brewers called up catcher Luke Maile to take Tellez’s place.
How long between hits?
The Indians had gone 50 plate appearances without a hit since Bobby Bradley singled in the bottom of the eight inning on Friday night.
Upcoming road trip
The Tribe will play three games in two days at Minnesota, with a double-header on tap for Tuesday. They’ll then play a three game set in New York against the Yankees next weekend before returning home.
Some good news
Shane Bieber will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Columbus on Tuesday.
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Sean Fitzgerald is a Kent State graduate and the press box correspondent for Mark One Sports and CLE TribeCast. Follow him on Twitter @fitzonsportsbsr.
