Indians Confidential

Yuck. On a night made more for football than baseball, the Tribe’s first game in KC in 2009 was one to forget. Royals pitcher Zach Greinke was in control from the start, and by the time it was done it the team had put up a goose egg, struck out 9 times, and were behind 4-0.

The team is now 1-6, and while they (like Saturday), made it a game in the 9th with two runs and the tying run on second with no outs, the game came down to KC closer Joakim Soria, who struck out Victor Martinez, got Travis Hafner to hit a weak grounder to the mound, and struck out Jhonny Peralta to end the game. Ugly.

The Royals jumped on Fausto Carmona (0-2) with three runs in the first inning, and needed little after that. Carmona went five innings, allowing four runs on five hits, walking four and striking out four. It would have been a great night for Carmona to rebound from his shaky first start, but it was not to be.

The offense did have their shots, as they put up 10 hits, but Hafner and Peralta going 0-for-8 hurt, and they left 10 men on base and continue to really struggle with runners in scoring position.

The team continues to have their issues with falling behind early. Carmona needed to set a tempo tonight with a good outing, and he couldn’t, and the offense wasted their shots against Greinke and that was all she wrote.

They left five on base in the first three innings, and four of those were in scoring position. Things are bad right now, and it some ways, they only have themselves to blame for it.

Tuesday night again at 8:10pm it will be Carl Pavano against Kyle Davies.