Indians Confidential

There was a slight ray of hope after watching Jeremy Sowers last Friday set down the Cincinnati Reds at Progressive Field. Sowers didn’t have that usual mid-game slump, and finally showed that he could throw more than five good innings of baseball. It was back to reality on Wednesday night, as Sowers had his usual “off” inning, allowing four runs in the 6th inning of a 1-1 game as the Indians were swept with a 6-2 loss.

Sowers lasted six innings, allowing five runs on 11 hits with one walk and two strikeouts. The big blow of the contest was a three-run bomb by catcher Ramon Castro to break open a tie game. Sowers is now 0-5 with a 6.23 ERA in six lifetime starts against the White Sox. Ouch.

Chicago used the three games here in Cleveland to batter Indians pitching, out scoring the Indians 23-9 in the sweep. It was the 5th time this season that the Indians were swept by the opposition. The team has now lost five in a row, 13 of 15 and 8 of their last 9 at home. They are now 1-5 in this 9-game homestand.

They scored their first run of the game in the 3rd, as a Grady Sizemore ground out got a run in. After Chicago went up 5-1 in the 6th, the Indians came back with a run on a Shin-Soo Choo double to make it 5-2. It was over after that, as the offense went into the shell that has killed them most of the year. They managed just five hits and left five on base.

The team now sits at 31-49, and are 13.5 back of the Tigers in the Central. The team gets an off day on Thursday, and then welcome in the equally as bad Oakland A’s for a July 4th weekend series.