Game #38 Observations: Indians Bullpen Hit Hard in 7-1 Loss to Brewers

Carlos Carrasco looked more like himself for the Cleveland Indians on Friday, and while the offense did nothing to help him, neither did the bullpen.

The Cleveland Indians were impatient offensively on Friday night against the Milwaukee Brewers, rendering them ineffective in a 7-1 loss. Cleveland fell to 23-15, further complicating the top of the AL Central standings.

Cleveland scored their only run on a 5-2-3 double play attempt that hit Delino DeShields in the back and allowed Tyler Naquin to score from second base. Naquin, Cesar Hernández, Josh Naylor, and Oscar Mercado logged the Tribe’s four hits.

Brewers starter Corbin Burnes struck out seven over six innings of work, walking just two. Carlos Carrasco allowed one earned over six, allowing six hits and three walks. He struck out seven of his own.

The brunt of the Milwaukee damage came in the top of the 7th inning, beginning when reliever Phil Maton walked the leadoff hitter, Luis Urías, and led to a four-run inning. Keston Hiura put the game to rest in the 8th with a two-run blast to the left field bleachers off James Karinchak.

Cleveland will finish off their three-game set against Milwaukee over the weekend before welcoming the Kansas City Royals to Progressive Field for four games starting Monday.

Here are some observations from Friday’s loss:

The hard stuff ain’t comin’ for a while now.

Carrasco certainly lacked command at points on Friday night, walking three, but the Brewers offense limited their output by failing to find the barrel. The Brew Crew registered just two hits with exit velocities over 95 mph against Cookie, one of which was a groundball double-play from Ben Gamel.

The pair of hard-hit balls were as many as Milwaukee posted against Phil Maton and James Karinchak each over 1 1/3 total innings of work.

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The Brewers scored the first run of the game on a bases-loaded single from Luis Urías. Of course, that hit traveled so short a distance that it was not registered by Statcast. We do know that the perfectly-placed cue shot left the bat at 73 mph, at a -74-degree angle, giving it an xBA of .280.

That’s baseball.

The Brewer small-ball was not the death of the Cleveland baseball club, as the remainder of Milwaukee’s offense came on hard hits. Hiura’s two-run homer registered an EV of 106.6 mph, and Urías racked a 107.4 mph single off of Karinchak earlier in the 8th.

Feast or famine

Home plate umpire Jerry Meals was not exactly a model of consistency either. To paint a picture, Brewers hitting coach Andy Haines was ejected for arguing balls and strikes, and the best pitch-framer in baseball, Cleveland catcher Austin Hedges, could not even get two identical pitches called a strike:

Hedges, presumably disgusted by Meals’ effort already, had some words for the umpire after striking out on three borderline pitches in the 8th.

Then there was this masterpiece in the top of the 9th.

Perhaps the ramp-up to the shortened season was not enough for Jerry, either.

Triple played

When Major League Baseball announced the passage of its three-batter minimum for relievers, Cleveland fans immediately thought of Óliver Pérez, the team’s lefty specialist. Though not as vulnerable to right-handed pitching as many southpaw relievers, Pérez’s main edge was eliminated by the rule.

Maton struggled for seemingly the first time all season, walking Urías to begin the 7th, then allowing a single to Ben Gamel, followed by a go-ahead double from Hiura. With runners on second and third and former MVP Christian Yelich coming to bat, interim manager Sandy Alomar Jr. summoned Pérez.

Yelich reached on an error, scoring both Hiura and Gamel, but even with the lefty-lefty matchup done with, Pérez was forced to continue. Cleveland elected to intentionally walk Jedd Gyorko to get to another lefty, Dan Vogelbach, but with Pérez locked on the mound, Milwaukee countered with career lefty-killer, Ryan Braun. The slugger added on, smashing a 102.4 mph single, scoring Yelich.

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Braun boasts a 160 wRC+ and .993 OPS against lefties in his career, as opposed to 126 and .854 against righties. There was likely no way that Pérez would have faced Braun had the three-batter minimum not been in effect, and why the lefty will continue to lose value, especially having just turned 39.

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For more from Alex Hooper, follow him on Twitter @lexhooper. Follow CBI on Twitter @IndiansonSI