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A Cleveland Indians Oddity

Cleveland Indians

Cleveland Indians Oddities

Entering play on Wednesday, the Cleveland Indians were amid a seven-game losing streak. Unfortunately, that streak got extended to eight-games as the club lost to the Chicago Cubs by a final score of 3-2 in 10 innings. For the Indians, this has been a tough stretch of baseball and it certainly isn’t coming at a good time.

After all, the Indians currently occupy third place in the American League Central with a 26-23 record. They are six games back of the division-leading Chicago White Sox and four behind the Minnesota Twins. However, Cleveland would still make the postseason with the eighth seed in the American League.

On Wednesday, there were a couple of oddities that happened. First of all, the game was delayed for seven minutes and ten seconds due to a drone that was flying around Wrigley Field. That led to plenty of panic and commotion on the field and Francisco Lindor ended up shielding himself behind one of the umpires.

However, that wasn’t the biggest oddity of the day for the Indians. Rather, that oddity is described in the tweet below by Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com.

That’s right. It’s hard to believe that it has been three seasons since the Indians went on that historic winning streak. It made the history books as the longest win streak ever in the American League.

Indians Struggles Continue with Runners in Scoring Position

All season long, the Cleveland Indians have struggled when it comes to hitting in situations with runners in scoring position (RISP). Wednesday’s game was certainly no exception. The Indians lineup went a combined 1-for-9 in those situations and left a total of six men on-base.

Since the start of this current eight-game losing streak, the Indians have gone 11-for-54 in RISP situations. As a team, one of the biggest keys for Cleveland was to start working the count in their favor and attempting to get on-base anyway possible. Unfortunately, that still has not come true and that could haunt the Indians over the final 12 games of the regular season and into the postseason should they clinch a playoff berth.

Despite that though, the one bright spot of the Indians offense continues to be the aforementioned Francisco Lindor. So far during the month of September, Lindor is batting .347/.411/.592 with 17 hits, three doubles, three home runs, nine RBI, six walks, and six strikeouts over 49 at-bats. However, Lindor has struggled severely with RISP all season as well.

On the year, Lindor has a slash line of .184/.293/.327 in those situations. In addition, he has 12 strikeouts when there are men in scoring position. As a middle of the batting order hitter, that is not something the Indians want to see.

Looking Ahead

After being swept by the Chicago Cubs during a quick two-game series, the Indians begin a four-game series Thursday against the Detroit Tigers. The first pitch occurs at 6:10 Eastern. American League Cy Young Award favorite Shane Bieber (7-1, 1.53 ERA) gets the start for Cleveland. Meanwhile, prized pitcher Casey Mize (0-1, 5.85 ERA) toes the rubber for Detroit.

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Chris Larson

Chris Larson

Hello Everyone! My name is Chris and I am aspiring to work in baseball someday as a professional writer or front office executive. Currently, I work in Human Resources and am attending graduate school for an MBA in Project Management. Outside of work and school, I am a student of the game of baseball, enjoy watching hockey and basketball, love writing, weight lifting and working out, listening to music, and reading about history and science related topics. Additionally, I am the founder and main admin of the Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram group Baseball Fans of America.

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