Morning Rundown: The Big Ewww Helps Royals Snap Streak

Sixth: Brantely and Cabrera get on base with an out, Brantely makes it to third on a steal and then Santana walks, loading the bases. Travis Hafner gets his fastball on the first pitch and hits it good, but close enough to Alcides Escobar to get an out at second. A run scores, but it effectively ends the opportunity because Shelley Duncan had an awful night.

Seventh: Same situation in the seventh with Kipnis and Kotchman on base, but this time Aaron Cunningham comes through with a one-out single up the middle that knocks in Kipnis. Mind you that Cunningham's hit and Kotchman getting hit are the first two batters Tommy Hottovy faced in replacing Hochevar. Very crucial for Brantely to continue to keep him on the ropes, but he strikes out on four pitches. At least he gives Cabrera an opportunity, right?

Ehk, Aaron Crow comes in and it's a good battle between the two, and Cabrera gives it a good ride, but it's a deep fly out to end the inning.

It just isn't their night. It should have been clear after the first inning when the Indians had their other best opportunity, and it got spoiled by some bad baserunning and unlucky Hafner. Cabrera singles with one out and that brings up Santana to do the same. Although Santana's single is a little more interesting as it bounces off Eric Hosmer and sort of to Jeff Francoeur, who fumbles around with the ball. Cabrera hits third, cause he can actually run and has the time. 

And someone will have to explain to me why Santana thought it was a good idea to break for second on that when he's A) not fast and B) Jeff Francoeur is in right field. Dead duck at second and it kills a golden opportunity with Hafner coming up.

Because with runners on the corners, it's likely the Royals infield alignment is sort of normal and ready for a double play. Instead, they can shift like normal and guard the middle, which is right where Travis Hafner smoked the ball in his at-bat. Instead of a one-run single and runners on the corners again, Hafner grounds out.

Opportunities, given away. You could call it bad luck on Hafner, but I call it what Manny Acta said, giving away outs. 

That will not win you the ball game.

Random Details...

Perhaps things looked better if Kipnis and Cabrera wouldn't have let an Alex Gordon grounder get through as Eric Hosmer homered with two outs. I mean, that is true that if you want to blame Santana for the blunder costing a run, you have to blame Kipnis (more so) and Cabrera for letting a grounder by Gordon go by. It would have been out number two, and Butler would have popped out to end the inning and Hosmer wouldn't have had a chance to hit a two-run bomb to make it a 4-0 lead.

And those two runs tie the game for the Indians, make the Royals hang their heads and Acta not go for the Jairo Asencio show.

What a bad show this is. I think it's about time we've nixed this experiment. Far be it from me to pull an early plug on someone because it is only April, but I'm done with Jairo. I'm willing to roll with someone like Dan Wheeler because even though he looked like cow dung, he's at least a veteran who has a proven track record and innings like the seventh last night are reasons to keep him around awhile longer.

Innings like that from Jairo Asencio, when the game is still in reach against a sputtering Royals squad, and you get absolutely bombed? Forget it. I'm done with you. Even to be a batting practice dummie, I'd rather trash him right now. That's what Wheeler is for. Get someone who can produce up here.

How about Rafael Perez? Guy walks two, gets a double play, somehow out of the inning despite throwing just FOUR strikes. You heard me, FOUR Strikes out of 16 pitches and he gets three outs without damage. Perez did not look right as his velocity was way down and he had no control what so ever. It's typical of Perez to be a little erratic, even when he's good his slider moves lots, but he just didn't look right even for not having it. I'd be a little concerned and it may be a reason that the Indians can't get rid of Jairo, as they may need his arm to throw out there just in case.

Shelley Duncan struggled and looked visible frustrated after each at-bat. Maybe it may be time to give him a rest. I'd sit him Friday against Jered Weaver, who is not only right-handed, but really good. That is of course if Choo is ready to go.

I may not want to admit it, but Duncan's struggles against right-handed hitting suggest he'd be better off platooning with Johnny Damon, letting Damon play the majority of time against tough righties. He's 5-30 with 10 strikeouts and 8 walks to being 7-18 with 6 strikeouts and 4 walks against the left-hander. He should play everyday against the left-hander, that's for sure, but with his issues, it may be better if Damon plays the majority against right-handers, at least the tough ones.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

The big news is that Shin-Soo Choo's hamstring kept him out of the lineup on Wednesday and given the early start, could keep him out Thursday as well. It appears it shouldn't keep him out long though as Manny Acta is not expecting to have to place Choo on the disabled list with a bum hamstring. He also said he showed up better than expected on Wednesday.

"We could tell that he went kind of slow after a ball ... hit to right-center field," Acta said. "So we were approached by the training staff and we talked to him and he just felt it was sore. If it was up to him, he probably would've stayed out there."

But Choo was removed on Tuesday and sat Wednesday. It's for the best. Healthy Choo > Anything else we see thrown in right field at this point.

Rafael Perez is mysterious, Dan Wheeler did something decent last night, and uh, Jairo Asencio.... There's not much going on beyond that and if we don't get Nick Hagadone, the Indians need Tony Sipp to be good and not bad. He's been good lately, which was definitely not the case early on when he looked like cow dung.

"He's had about three or four now in a row where he's been good," Acta said. "We need him. We know how big he's been for us the last couple of years. I feel now that he's gotten back. Three good outings in a row pretty much would help anybody."

You need everyone of course, but that 7th/8th inning when Acta needs to get a tough lefty out, this will be the guy. He has to be right, no ifs about it. Hagadone or not, Sipp has to be right because he's got the most experience, he's proved the most, he will be the one that is called on.

"That was a curveball," Indians third baseman Jack Hannahan. "That stuff is over and done with. We're just playing baseball."