Here are 11 Walk-off Thoughts from the Indians’ 6-5 loss to the New York Mets Friday night.
1. Cody Anderson is a pitcher who utilizes hard, downward movement to induce weak contact and the occasional strikeout. When that type of pitcher struggles to keep the ball down and doesn’t quite have the stuff of a Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco or Danny Salazar? That often spells trouble.
2. That was the issue Friday night, and it really caught up with him in the fifth. Said Anderson: “A few of those pitches were just up, just trying to do a little too much with the ball. Left a few pitches up and they definitely didn’t miss them.”
3. The Mets entered this game with two team home runs, the lowest mark in the league. So obviously, they hit four in this game and three in the fifth inning alone. Because, that’s baseball. It wasn’t because Anderson didn’t have a pitch or two working, it was that he couldn’t consistently keep the ball down in the zone where it needed to be.
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4. This game was also a pretty good example of how things can unravel when a starter goes through the order a third time. Alejandro De Aza and Yoenis Cespedes each took Anderson yard and then Neil Walker crushed the first pitch from Ross Detwiler into the seats. A couple of mistakes and a 1-1 game is 6-1. Prior to that inning, the only blemish was a Michael Conforto solo shot in the first inning.
5. Anderson worked hard all spring to develop his curveball, and he made a mistake with it to Cespedes. And a hitter like Cespedes won’t allow those types of mistakes to go unpunished very often, especially with a still-developing pitch. “I never want to dwell on pitches that I choose to throw, but in that situation, I got beat with my fourth-best pitch,” Anderson said. “I left it up and he hit it out.”
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6. The Indians certainly made it a game, but they waited until there were two outs in the bottom of the ninth, thus giving a bunch of beat writers minor heart attacks.
7. This was a pretty sleepy game in the ninth. Two outs, it’s 6-2, there’s a runner on. Then Carlos Santana belts a two-run home run. And Yan Gomes singles. And then Marlon Byrd—suddenly the tying run—singles him home (after a wild pitch moved Gomes to second base). Then Juan Uribe walks, and the tying run is in scoring position.
8. But, it was too little, too late. Jose Ramiez flied out to end it. It’s sometimes amazing how a game can seem so one-sided but then in a span of 4-5 batters, all of a sudden the 27th out means everything. Indians manager Terry Francona certainly appreciated the club being in a home-run-heavy losing effort and turning it into a one-at-bat game.
9. Said Francona, “I'll always feel like we're going to win. If we do that enough— I don’t think we want to be down four going into the ninth real often— but if we do that enough, we’ll win one of those.”
10. Also, showing a little predictive nature, Francona said before the game that veteran third baseman Juan Uribe would be fine despite his .053 batting average to start the season. Uribe responded to that by going 3-for-4 with a walk.
11. So the Indians are now 4-4 and Josh Tomlin will make his first start of the season on Saturday. It’s possible that rehabbing outfielder Lonnie Chisenhall will return to Cleveland soon, requiring a move on the 25-man roster. There a couple ways the Indians could go with it, since the versatility of Jose Ramirez affords them a fifth outfielder when needed. Anderson struggled with keeping the ball down on Friday night, but the Indians have shown plenty of confidence in him and he pitched well in his first start this season. It’ll be interesting to see which way they go when Chisenhall returns.