They threw that one away between boneheaded base running and Stephan and Clase giving up three runs, not counting the ghost runner. Barlow and Chapman were just better than Stephan and Clase.
I hate to see them waste one of the greatest plays of Jose Ramirez's career - a straight steal of home, possibly the rarest play in baseball. It hasn't been done in the majors in five years. But waste it they did.
Two runners thrown out on the bases plus Straw getting picked off first. I can't believe Brennan tried for a triple when the throw was away before he even got to second base. It looked like he made up his mind that anything that got to the wall in right center was a triple. But the right fielder was playing him toward center and got to the ball quickly and Brennan was out by a mile. That stupid decision cost us the game.
Bell was on first base with two out and running on a 3-2 count but he still got thrown out at third on a bloop single. How freaking slow is he?
Hope Josh Naylor's hand is OK. He looked to be in a lot of pain in his last at-bat. With a lefty going for the Cubs tomorrow he'll probably get the day off.
Stephan needs to focus. In Tuesday's game he missed the pitchout sign or maybe he just forgot it in five seconds. Bo Naylor still threw out the runner after a 360 spin, but like Manning said about Stephan; "His head's not in the game". Today with one out in the 8th he walks Lopez, who is hitting .206, and of course Lopez scores the first of two runs. Inexcusable.
Stephan and Clase couldn't put away hitters with two strikes. Both RBI singles off Stephan came with two strikes on the hitter. In the 10th Lopez got an infield single on an 0-2 pitch and Fermin got the game-winning hit on a 2-2 pitch after three consecutive foul balls. The hit came on a hanging slider, the third one in a row. My feeling is if you're going to get beat, get beat throwing your best pitch. Clase threw Fermin seven pitches and six of them were sliders. A fastball at the knees might have gotten a double play ball to end the game.
The Guardians were 1-for-8 with RISP. They had 13 baserunners against Greinke (11 hits, 2 walks) but only 2 runs. Just a really, really frustrating day in terms of pitching, hitting, and base running. It took all three to throw this one away.
