Michael Bourn glided in as he usually does, preparing to make a routine catch in center field in the first inning for the Indians. That is when the baseball that soared from Robinson Cano’s bat glanced off the glove of the outfielder and dropped to the grass.
It was a rare gaffe for one of the game’s best defenders.
“That just kind of seems like how things are going for us right now,” Indians first baseman Nick Swisher said.
The error was indeed symbolic of the Indians’ last few weeks. Bourn’s miscue helped the Yankees to an early outburst against Corey Kluber that was sufficient in sending Cleveland to a 6-4 loss at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. The defeat completed a three-game sweep at the hands of New York and marked the Tribe’s 12th loss in the past 16 contests.
CC Sabathia spun a complete game for the Yankees to put the final touch on the Bronx brooming.
Throughout this season, whether during Cleveland’s 18-4 run that began in late April or throughout the subsequent 4-12 slide, Indians manager Terry Francona has stressed a horse-blinder mentality. The most important game is the one taking place. The games behind and the ones coming up should not influence a team’s daily approach.
Francona again emphasized that attitude prior to Wednesday’s loss.
“You can ask me every which way you want,” Francona said, “but my answer is always going to be the same, because that’s how I feel. I can’t change how I feel, and I don’t have to force myself to do that. You play a game and then you move on. You make a mistake, you try to work to correct it. You figure out why you did it and move on.
“Every game is its own game, especially in our game. So much depends on the starting pitcher. I really don’t value showing up up or down, depending on what you did the night before. That doesn’t make much sense to me. If it helped us, I’d do it. But I don’t see that happening.”
Putting that philosophy to work can be tough for the players going through the slump, but the Indians are trying not to get wrapped up in the recent struggles.
“We kind of try to take the mentality of our manager, man,” Swisher said. “We kind of go one game at a time.”
Kluber was on the wrong end of the loss — the fourth in a row for the Tribe. The right-hander finished strong for Cleveland, but the six runs he surrendered in the first two innings were too much for the club to overcome.
The early onslaught for New York started in the first inning, when Bourn’s blunder allowed Cano to reach safely. Two batters later, former Cleveland slugger Travis Hafner turned on a pitch from Kluber, sending it into the second deck beyond the right-field wall for a two-out, two-run home run. The blast was Hafner’s 10th of the season for the Yankees.
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