Indians vs. Padres recap: Trevor Bauer sharp, but Tribe falls 2-1

Trevor Bauer held up his part of the bargain, but he was just about the only one.

Game 9: Padres 2, Indians 1

Trevor Bauer, who was called up in order to make a spot start necessitated by Monday's rain out, pitched a very good game. He went 6 innings, struck out 8, and allowed just 4 hits and 2 walks, leading to 2 runs (one of which was unearned, on account of an Asdrubal Cabrera error). There's a good argument that it was the best game Bauer has pitched in an Indians uniform.

Not only did the Cabrera error lead to one of those runs, there was also a strange play in which Indians right fielder Elliot Johnson made a catch near the wall, then dropped the ball while transferring it to his throwing hand, and had the umpire rule that it was not a catch. Take a look:

That's a catch.

MLB rules state a player must complete a transfer from glove to hand before a play is deemed an out, but there has to be a limit on that. After all, Johnson took two or three steps with the ball in his glove, then stopped and turned before the ball came out.

Anyway...

The Tribe offense floundered, putting only 8 men on base all game. A sacrifice fly in the 3rd inning scored a run, but the next real scoring opportunity didn't come until the 9th inning, when Ryan Raburn singled, pinch runner Nyjer Morgan stole second, and Michael Brantley drew a walk to put runners on 1st and 2nd with one out. Yan Gomes hit an easy fly ball for the second out though, and Cabrera did the same thing for out number three, ending the game.

I would really have liked to see Lonnie Chisenhall pinch hit for Cabrera, because Lonnie (the reigning Indians PLayer of the Week) has been swinging the bat much better and is probably a better hitter against righties than Cabrera even if you ignore the small sample of this season's early results. Instead, the Indians played 18 innings this afternoon and Chisenhall never had reason to get off the bench beyond passing out a few high fives.

Bauer looked as good as we could have hoped, after also doing well in his first start of the season (for Columbus). I don't think we should read too much into things just yet, but if he puts together a couple more good outing for the Clippers, he could be knocking on the door for a permanent promotion.

The Indians are now 5-4, and will leave town in the morning for a big road trip that takes them to Chicago for 4 games and then to Detroit for 3. Let's hope they return home next week with their winning record still intact.

Box Score

Win-expectancy chart:

Source: FanGraphs

Roll Call:

Game Thread

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