If you thought production was thin for the Tribe the last two days, it was, again, more of the same for the Tribe in Surprise on Thursday in a 10-0 loss to the Texas Rangers. For the third day in a row, a sustainable offense was nowhere to be found, but it was time for the pitchers to get into the act of virtual ineffectiveness.
Things started well, but got ugly fast for the Indians, losers of three straight after a 5-0 start. Drew Stubbs led off the game with a single, but it was quickly erased by Asdrubal Cabrera’s 5-4-3 double play, and a Jason Kipnis line out gave Texas starter Derek Holland momentum for his four inning outing.
It was the type of momentum that his counterpart Zach McAllister never quite had on Thursday. Lance Berkman battled for a 9-pitch walk, and came around to score from third on a Nelson Cruz single, after David Murphy doubled. McAllister saw every Ranger starter in the second inning, where nine men came to the plate for the Rangers, including AJ Pierzynski, who made the final out of the first two innings.
Jeff Baker got things started in the second inning, punching a ground past Nick Swisher, who was shifted towards second base against the right-handed Baker, and into right field. Jurickson Profar tripled down the right field line, into the deepest corner of Surprise Stadium to bring home Baker and Mitch Moreland, who singled, to make it 2-0. Profar scored on the play when Jason Kipnis missed his target at third base by a country mile, giving the just-turned-20-year-old Rangers shortstop one of those Little League type “home runs”. It was 4-0 Rangers, and it things never got better McAllister.
When his day was done, McAllister had allowed 5 runs, all earned, on 4 hits. He struck out one and walked one. It was the 25 year-old’s second start of the spring, but not nearly as successful as it was the first time out on Sunday; a solitary walk was the only flaw for McAllister against the Reds.
Holland was brilliant in his 2nd outing of the spring, keeping the Indians off the scoreboard, yielding 3 hits, mixed in with 2 strikeouts and no walks, bringing his spring ERA down to 1.29. After the first, he worked a 1-2-3 second inning on ten pitches, which ended quickly after a 7 pitch at-bat to Nick Swisher ended with a pop out for the first out of the inning.
Vinnie Pestano came on in relief, and again, it was more of the same. He was roughed up in the third inning to the effect of two runs on three hits, including doubles from Baker and Ian Kinsler. Daisuke Matsusaka got tagged two runs on Mitch Moreland’s 2-run HR in the fourth to make it 9-0.
If there was a bright spot on the day, it was the kid from UCLA. Acquired via the blockbuster trade that sent Shin-Soo Choo to the Reds, Trevor Bauer put on a show in Surprise when he came on to pitch the sixth inning. Then, he did a little bit of pitching; and that was worth talking about. It was 6 up, 6 down, for Bauer who struck out a batter in his two innings of hitless baseball.
The Rangers would add a run in the eighth to make it even 10 runs on the day, but that happened hours after there was any semblance of doubt about the outcome. After Fernando Nieve got Yangervis Solarte on a called strikeout, the Rangers farmhands went station-to-station on four consecutive singles from Jim Adduci, Mike Olt, Konrad Schmidt, and Brandon Snyder to close out the day’s scoring.
Of course, the Indians offensive highlights are worth a mention. Lonnie Chisenhall and Ryan Raburn were each 2-for-3 at the plate, and that’s all that I have to say about that.
The Indians are back at their spring home in Goodyear tomorrow. First pitch is at 3:05 ET; Justin Masterson (1-0, 0.00 ERA) will throw it. The visiting White Sox will counter with Chris Sale, who is making his 2013 Cactus League debut.