Tito on Lindor: 'He's Wise Beyond His Years' by Mandy Bell / MLB.Com
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Tito on Lindor: 'He's wise beyond his years' By Mandy Bell / MLB.com | 12:56 AM ET + 2 COMMENTS BALTIMORE -- Prior to Tuesday night's game, Francisco Lindor told local RBI participants that the most important thing when dealing with a slump is to stay positive and to keep swinging because a slump can't be broken by taking pitches. Just a few hours later, the young shortstop took his own advice. In the Indians' 6-5 loss to the Orioles, Lindor, who ranks second among American League shortstops in voting for the 2017 MLB All-Star Game presented by MasterCard, showed positive signs of breaking out of his recent rut at the plate after leading off the game with a single to left and then fouling off three pitches to win an eight-pitch at-bat in the fourth for a two-RBI double. "Better," Indians' manager Terry Francona said of Lindor's approach at the plate. "First inning, you could tell he was trying to hit the ball the other way. Then the at-bat he hit the double, he fouled off a lot of pitches to stay alive until he could get a pitch he could handle. I thought there was a lot of progress there." In the Indians' 18-hit, 12-run game against the Orioles on Monday, Lindor was the only starter who didn't record a base hit, but Francona still found something impressive in the team's young rising star. "By his demeanor, anybody in this ballpark would have never known [Lindor wasn't hitting]," Francona said. "He was enthusiastic, and for a younger player, that's a big compliment. And that's what I told him. He's going to have his days. He's too good. When it's not going the way you necessarily want it to, you know, the way he's acting, in my opinion, that's kind of what stars do. … He's kind of wise beyond his years." Lindor's lesson to the RBI kids was not for show. The young shortstop, who admits that his month-long slump has been difficult -- he hit a mere .176 in the first 16 games in June after starting the season hot with a .309 average in April -- but he tries to find the positives in every situation that he is thrown into. "Yeah [the mental aspect is the toughest part of slumps], but at the same time it's fun," Lindor said. "Because you know you're going to come out of it eventually. … It's only going to teach me how to be a better hitter. To understand what I am doing. To understand what I have to do on a daily basis. Be a better hitter and a better player overall." After Tuesday night's performance, the 23-year-old shortstop could be heating up in the middle of a competitive All-Star Game race. After the latest ballot update, the shortstop trails only Carlos Correa in the standings. "It's pretty special. I thank the fans and everybody that voted for me. It's really special," Lindor said of receiving over 1,300,000 votes. "It shows that the fans are there. They gave me a lot of support. I really appreciate it. I play the game for them. I really do this for them, and it's a blessing." Tribe's streak ends as Tomlin cedes lead By Mandy Bell and Brittany Ghiroli / MLB.com | 12:30 AM ET + 35 COMMENTS BALTIMORE -- With the Orioles' rotation struggles on full display, Baltimore's offense provided a little pick-me-up Tuesday night at Camden Yards. Adam Jones doubled in Manny Machado -- who homered twice and added a double and single -- for the go-ahead run off Brian Shaw in the seventh inning of Tuesday's 6-5 series-evening victory over the red-hot Indians. The victory, which snapped Cleveland's win streak at six, gives the O's their fourth win in 13 games as they try to gain some momentum. "That's a good team. I'd be surprised if they don't win their division," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said of Cleveland. "There's not many holes there. There's not many breathing spots. "[Closer] Brad [Brach] did real well to go through that part of the lineup." Machado, who just missed a third homer in the seventh, went deep twice off Indians starter Josh Tomlin for a four-RBI night. Tomlin went 4 2/3 innings and was charged with five runs on eight hits, including three homers. Jonathan Schoop provided the other homer for the O's, belting a solo shot in the second inning. "I try not to look at the numbers anyway," Tomlin said of Machado's low batting average. "Those guys have track records for a reason. You can look at the numbers, they are what they are. But, you can't leave the ball down the middle of the plate or not execute pitches in those situations. Unfortunately, that's what happened tonight, an unexecuted pitch, and that changed the game. Unfortunately, probably ended up losing the game." The Indians went up early on Orioles starter Chris Tillman with Edwin Encarnacion's mammoth blast. Encarnacion sent Tillman's 3-1 pitch into the second deck of the left-field seats -- just the second ball to land there all year -- for a two-run homer and his 17th of the season. The ball went 454 feet, according to Statcast™, his second-longest homer of the year. It was just the fourth ball to reach the second deck in Camden Yards history. The Tribe added another trio in the fourth, with Austin Jackson driving in a run and Francisco Lindor doubling in two. • Tito on Lindor: 'He's wise beyond his years' Tillman went four innings plus one batter, giving up five earned runs on eight hits, three walks and two wild pitches. The Indians had the tying run on third base in the bottom of the ninth inning, but Brach was able to nail down the save by getting Yan Gomes to fly out to the warning track. MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Clutch Castro: The Indians left the bases loaded with one out in the top of the seventh inning as the Tribe had no answer for Orioles reliever Miguel Castro. Castro, who came on after Richard Bleier gave up a pair of hits and intentionally walked Carlos Santana, struck out Gomes and got a groundout to quash the threat and keep the game tied at 5. Castro earned his first MLB victory in his 43rd career game. "He's proving himself, and he's been throwing the ball well," Machado said of Castro. "He's going to go out there and do what he can. I know he's a competitor and he wants to win. He's going to go out there and he did a hell of a job. He went 1-2-3, made some hell-of-a-pitches and got us back in the dugout to come back and get that 'W.'" Macho Man: The O's third baseman reached base four times, narrowly missing a three-homer night. Machado, who also had an infield single, put the O's on the board in the first inning and tied the game in the fifth with a three-run blast. More > QUOTABLE "Yeah, if we get a good pitching outing tomorrow. And the next day and the next day. Get some competitive starting pitching. But it's hard to maintain a lot of that if you don't get that. Coming back from the game we had last night, they really took it to us, so it was good to come out ahead against a real good team tonight." -- Showalter, on if Tuesday's win can give his club some momentum "No [I didn't think I made it back to second base]. I knew I was out. Everything happened so slow. That's on me. That's a mistake that shouldn't be happening, especially with [Encarnacion] hitting. It's a rookie mistake." -- Lindor, on getting picked off second base in the first inning before Encarnacion's two-run home run SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS Ramirez's second single of the night in the seventh inning gave the red-hot slugger his eighth straight multi-hit game. The last Indian to have eight consecutive multi-hit games was Kenny Lofton in 1996 from June 12-20. WHAT'S NEXT Indians: The Indians will send Carlos Carrasco to the mound for the third game of the four-game series against the Orioles at Camden Yards. The righty is coming off of a strong outing in which he allowed just one run on four hits through 6 1/3 innings. Carrasco has a 2.89 ERA in seven road starts this season. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET. Orioles:The Orioles will send Kevin Gausman to the mound for Wednesday's game against the Tribe. Gausman came up just short of a six- inning outing on Friday against the Cardinals, but was pulled after throwing 116 pitches in 5 2/3 innings. The righty allowed five earned runs on nine hits allowing three walks, but struck out seven batters. Tribe's red-hot Ramirez needs AS boost at 3B By Jordan Bastian / MLB.com | @MLBastian | June 20th, 2017 + 3 COMMENTS CLEVELAND -- Jose Ramirez has enjoyed an historic week in the batter's box for the Indians. Cleveland's third baseman will require a bit more help in the ballot box if he is going to head to Miami as an American League All-Star for the first time.