John Axford sat in the corner of the Indians’ clubhouse, still in uniform, staring into his locker. When the Indians closer sensed the pack of reporters gathering behind him, he stood tall and discussed yet another setback.
The best cure for a blown save can often be a quick turnaround. That was not the case for Axford in a 1-0, 10-inning loss to the Twins on Monday night at Progressive Field. One night after blowing a save against the White Sox, Axford surrended a go-ahead home run to Eduardo Escobar in the final frame vs. Minnesota.
Axford wanted the ball, even though it betrayed him once again.
“That’s something you want, and that’s something that I want,” Axford said. “I want to go out there the next day, the next game, and get the job done. Erase the slate. Get a clean slate and erase what happened the day before. Unfortunately, second pitch, it didn’t work out.”
The path to that pitch was paved by Cleveland’s offense.
For the second game in a row, the Indians received a stellar starting performance from one of their pitchers. This time, it was right-hander Zach McAllister who cruised into the seventh inning without allowing a run, escaping harm along the way. In Sunday’s loss to Chicago — a game undone by a three-run meltdown by Axford in the ninth — Corey Kluber spun eight brilliant innings.
Neither McAllister nor Kluber had much margin for error, though. George Kottaras swatted a pair of home runs on Sunday, but Cleveland managed only three runs on the day. On Monday, Twins right-hander Kyle Gibson hardly overpowered the Tribe, but he scattered two hits in seven shutout frames to frustrate the Indians’ anemic offense.
The Tribe had three hits on the night, and no baserunners advanced beyond second.
“We got in some hitter’s counts. We hit some balls hard,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “We just are fairly inconsistent right now. Even in hitter’s counts, we’re not getting really good swings. I think when it’s team-wide, everybody is trying to do [too much]. It’s a good quality, but we have to fight through it together and keep the line moving. Right now, we’re not doing that.”
The rotation has certainly done its part of late.
McAllister exited after 6 2/3 scoreless innings, during which he equaled a career best with eight strikeouts. The big right-hander walked only one in an outing that continued a recent resurgence for the staff. Over the past three games, Indians starters have posted a 0.41 ERA with 27 strikeouts in 22 innings. The Tribe’s rotation has a 1.33 ERA in 27 innings through four games on this homestand.
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