Tribe rallies from 4 down, but bullpen falters By Jordan Bastian MLB.com @MLBastian CLEVELAND -- There is no need to worry about matchups when Andrew Miller emerges from the Indians' bullpen. Unfortunately for Cleveland, Miller's trip to the disabled list has altered the automatic feel to late innings.

Prior to the Indians' 5-4 loss to the Mariners on Thursday, Miller was shelved with a left hamstring strain that will hopefully only cost him the requisite 10 days. A few hours later, the Tribe bullpen could not preserve the tie in a critical eighth inning, but that did not shake the team's confidence in the rest of the relief corps.

"His numbers are pretty ridiculous," Indians starter Mike Clevinger said of Miller. "But, if you erased all of his numbers and [looked at] our bullpen's numbers, it's still pretty remarkable. You want that shutdown inning that you know he gives you every time -- or two shutdown innings -- but we have the guys to do it."

Without Miller, Indians manager Terry Francona will need to mix and match the remainder of his relievers. In the eighth, Francona leaned on Dan Otero, Jeff Beliveau and Nick Goody against the meat of the Mariners' order. Otero and Beliveau retired the only hitters they faced in the frame, but Goody flinched, surrendering back-to-back doubles to Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager that put Seattle ahead for good. Goody had Cruz in an 0-2 count before eventually throwing a 2-2 slider low in the zone, where it met the slugger's bat and then soared to the wall in left. Seager followed by ripping a 1-1 fastball to left as well, scoring Cruz for the decisive run.

"I probably should have put [Cruz] away a little sooner. That's on me," Goody said. "I need to execute a little bit better. It wasn't a bad pitch. He went down and got it. It wasn't a good pitch, but I feel good. I felt good. I feel fine now. I'll be ready to go tomorrow. It's part of the game."

Thanks to a late push by Cleveland's lineup, Clevinger walked away with a no-decision after allowing four runs on eight hits in six-plus innings. Three runs came in the third inning, which was highlighted by an RBI triple off the bat of Dee Gordon. Clevinger, who has a 2.56 ERA on the year, ended with five strikeouts and a walk.

"Three or four hitters in a row, balls caught way too much of the plate and he paid for it," Francona said. "Other than that, he did pretty good. We ended up getting our 'pen up in the fourth and he ended up pitching effectively a couple more innings." Mariners lefty James Paxton tied a career high with 10 strikeouts in his six innings, but also left without a decision. Paxton cruised through the first five innings -- holding Cleveland to a 3-for-18 showing in that stretch -- before giving up a two-run home run to Yonder Alonso in the sixth.

In the seventh, Jason Kipnis and Edwin Encarnacion contributed run-scoring hits against the Mariners' bullpen to pull the game into a 4-4 deadlock. Under normal circumstances, that may have been Miller's moment to enter, with the goal of buying time for Cleveland's offense and bridging the gap to closer Cody Allen.

Day 1 without Miller did not go as smoothly as the Tribe would have hoped.

"I know they have confidence in me -- that's all I can ask for," Goody said. "I've got to go out and execute. I didn't tonight, but tomorrow's a new day. I'll be available tomorrow. So will everybody else."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Yonder vs. Paxton: Alonso entered Thursday hitting .154 with a .599 OPS in 28 plate appearances against left-handed pitching this season, after having a .679 OPS against lefties last year. The lefty-swinging first baseman has had a strong showing against Paxton in a small sample, though. On Thursday, Alonso went 2-for-3, including the two-run homer, against the Seattle southpaw. He's now gone 3-for-8 with two homers and two walks in his career vs. Paxton.

"Even against lefties, when Yonder doesn't go out of the zone and he can get himself in fastball counts -- it doesn't mean he just has to hit a fastball -- but just getting the ball up, he's really dangerous," Francona said.

Seven-pitch slip: Coming off a shutout on the road against the Orioles in his last start, Clevinger opened Thursday's outing by retiring the eight Mariners in order. Then the right-hander allowed three runs in a span of seven pitches. Ryon Healy (single), Gordon (RBI triple), Jean Segura (RBI double) and Robinson Cano (RBI single) all came through in succession against Clevinger. MITEL REPLAY OF THE DAY With two outs in the fifth, Cano lifted the first pitch he saw from Clevinger over left-center, where the ball looked at first glance to have struck the railing above the 19-foot wall. The shot was initially ruled a home run for the Seattle second baseman, but it was examined more closely via a crew-chief review. The home run was overturned after replays appeared to show the ball striking the yellow line atop the wall before bouncing back into play. Cano was given a double and Clevinger responded by striking out Cruz to escape the inning.

HE SAID IT "Oh my goodness, he's got great stuff. Velocity's up to 97 [mph] with an angle to it. I look at his numbers and it just doesn't match what you see coming out of his arm." -- Francona, on Paxton

UP NEXT Indians ace Corey Kluber will take the mound on Friday, when the Tribe hosts the Mariners in a 7:10 p.m. ET tilt at Progressive Field. Since the start of last year, Kluber is 11-2 with a 1.69 ERA and 170 strikeouts in 122 2/3 innings at home. Seattle will send righty Erasmo Ramirez to the hill.

Andrew Miller to the DL with strained hamstring By Jordan Bastian MLB.com @MLBastian CLEVELAND -- Andrew Miller did not want to go on the disabled list and the Indians did not want to make that move with their relief ace, either. Putting the left-hander on the shelf still wound up being the consensus decision on Thursday after the sides discussed the situation in detail.

Prior to Thursday's game against the Mariners, Miller was moved to the 10-day DL with a left hamstring strain that is "more frustrating than concerning" in the words of the pitcher. Miller is hoping to be back on a mound soon and expressed optimism about his chances of being activated when eligible. "With the DL being 10 days now, it just makes sense," Miller said. "You don't want to hang 24 guys out to dry for, call it, seven or eight days if you don't have to. It's the right thing to do, even if it's not the most desirable thing for me personally."

The issue flared in the seventh inning of the Indians' 4-1 win over the Cubs on Wednesday, when Miller fired a four-seamer to Anthony Rizzo and immediately grabbed at the back of his left leg. Rather than try to stay in the game, Miller motioned for the medical staff and exited after only two pitches. An MRI exam on Thursday morning showed a "low grade" strain, according to manager Terry Francona.

Miller said this is familiar territory for him. Back in 2014, the left-hander had a similar pain flare in the same area in a Sept. 1 outing when he pitched for the Orioles. Following four days off, Miller was back pitching in games for Baltimore. Based on that experience, Miller believes that he will be able to get back on a mound after a brief period of rest.

"I can't look into the future, but I don't think I need 10 days," Miller said. "I think if [the DL] was the old 15 days, I would like to think we probably aren't having this conversation. I'm probably in there getting treatment, trying to figure out how I can get back on the fifth, sixth or seventh day."

Francona echoed that evaluation.

"He probably would not have been a DL [move] if it was 15," said the manager. "That's for sure."

With Miller sidelined, Cleveland purchased the contract of left-hander Jeff Beliveau from Triple-A Columbus and designated lefty Jack Leathersich for assignment to vacate a spot on the 40-man roster. The 31-year-old Beliveau, who was in camp as a non-roster invitee with the Tribe this spring, has allowed two hits, one walk and no runs with 14 strikeouts in 8 2/3 innings with Columbus so far this season.

"He's a great kid," Francona said of Beliveau, who has had stints with the Cubs, Rays and Blue Jays over the past six seasons. "He's really been pitching well. And the hope is, kind of like Tyler Olson last year, you get an opportunity and you jump on and take advantage of it, and he helps us win."

Through 11 appearances this year, Miller had not allowed a run in 10 innings, in which he piled up 17 strikeouts against four walks. In parts of the past three seasons with Cleveland -- since being acquired in a blockbuster trade with the Yankees in July 2016 -- Miller has turned in a 1.33 ERA and 1.82 Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP), along with 158 strikeouts and 27 walks in 101 2/3 innings.

While Miller is out, Francona will mix and match with his other relievers in an effort to bridge the gap to closer Cody Allen. Olson will step into the main lefty relief role, with Beliveau offering an alternative. Right-handers Nick Goody, Dan Otero and Zach McAllister will also get high- leverage opportunities while Miller is temporarily out of the picture.

"They're going to be asked to do more right now," Miller said. "But I think they're ready for it. They've done a great job."

AL Central closers: Allen holding down 9th By Jordan Bastian MLB.com @MLBastian In an era of super bullpens, one of the best late-inning duos in baseball can be found within the American League Central.

As much attention is paid to the Indians' deep starting rotation, the reigning division champions have also been able to shorten games with closer Cody Allen and relief ace Andrew Miller covering critical outs. Through their first 21 combined innings this season, Allen and Miller had allowed precisely zero runs.

"People don't see behind the scenes how hard they work, preparing and everything like that," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "Andrew, everybody knows what he's done. But Cody, for the last six years here, he's been about as reliable a reliever as anybody in the league. He works hard to be available and takes a lot of pride in that.

"I personally think he's one of the better closers in the game. I know his name doesn't always pop up on those lists, but I think he's been really good."

With nearly a month of baseball in the books, here is a rundown of the closer situation for each team in the AL Central: Indians Who's the closer? Allen

How is it working out? Very well. Heading into Wednesday's action, there were 108 relievers with at least 10 innings logged this season in the Majors. Allen was one of three (Miller being another) with no earned runs allowed, and he had converted all four save chances. Allen then improved to 5-for-5 in save chances Wednesday night.

How secure is he? Allen is as secure in his job as any closer in baseball. Across the 2014-17 seasons, the right-hander posted a 2.62 ERA with 120 saves (30 per season on average) and an average of 12.1 strikeouts per nine innings in 282 appearances. Allen has enjoyed another strong start to this campaign, too.

Who's next in line? Francona likes having an "end point" in Allen, but the manager is also flexible with his late-inning duo. There have been stretches in which Miller has taken save chances, with Allen handling high-leverage scenarios. If, for some reason, Cleveland were to make a change, Miller would be the man, once he returns from a strained left hamstring that put him on the 10-day disabled list Thursday. Royals Who's the closer? Kelvin Herrera

How is it working out? Very well. Herrera, who lost his closer's job to Mike Minor last September, has been superb so far, not allowing a run in eight outings, entering Thursday. The problem is getting the lead and getting games to him.

How secure is he? Even if Herrera was struggling, his job would be secure, by default. Most of the bullpen has been a nightmare for manager Ned Yost this season.

Who's next in line? That's a great question. Herrera likely will be trade bait at the end of July, and right now it's hard to envision any one reliever taking over the job. Brandon Maurer was a possibility, but he has pitched his way back to the Minors. Tim Hill? Burch Smith? Brad Keller? Who knows?

Tigers Who's the closer? Shane Greene

How is it working out? Greene had four saves in six chances, entering Thursday, and has allowed two earned runs in nine innings since his three-run ninth inning on Opening Day. He has been the one entrenched veteran in a bullpen where other roles have been in flux.

How secure is he? Greene would require a major implosion to lose the job he took over after Justin Wilson's trade last summer. He's one of just two veterans in the bullpen, and he's one of a handful of veterans who could draw interest at the July 31 non-waiver Trade Deadline.

Who's next in line? Joe Jimenez is generally seen as the Tigers' closer of the future, and his hot start has reinforced that notion while earning him a valued setup role behind Greene. Alex Wilson is the other veteran in the bullpen, and he has some closing experience, though he has struggled to find his better form since a rough Spring Training.

Twins Who's the closer? Fernando Rodney

How is it working out? The Fernando Rodney Experience has been in full effect with Minnesota, as he's walked a tightrope in several of his outings this season. He's converted two saves, but has also blown two saves and gave up a walk-off homer to Adam Jones in his first appearance of the year.

How secure is he? Rodney still isn't quite in danger of losing his closer role, as he had a slow start last year with the D-backs before turning it around. Rodney had a 12.60 ERA in April last season, but posted a 2.38 ERA the rest of the way. But given his age (41 years old), the Twins will continue to monitor him closely.

Who's next in line? The Twins also signed reliever Addison Reed to a two-year deal in the offseason, and while they'd like to keep him in a Miller-type role, he has closing experience. Reed has 125 career saves and could move to the closer role if Rodney falters.

Meisel’s Musings: The Indians’ roster decisions, Michael Brantley’s swing-happy start and José Ramírez’s stationary helmet Zack Meisel 2h ago 2 Yan Gomes walked through the Indians’ clubhouse Thursday afternoon with a bat in his hand and an orange Cleveland Browns fishing hat atop his head.

Thursday night marked the start of another chapter — perhaps, at last, an uplifting one — in the dark, tragic Browns post-’99 storybook. As Francisco Lindor stepped in against Marc Rzepczynski, the scoreboard flashed a photo of Baker Mayfield, the Browns’ top draft selection. The picture prompted a smattering of boos from those in attendance at Progressive Field. Some within the Indians’ organization wanted to see Sashi Brown survive the Browns’ teardown and rebuild, to see whether an analytics-heavy approach could prove worthwhile. Instead, John Dorsey ran the show Thursday, and the Browns came away with Mayfield and cornerback Denzel Ward.

The Indians came away with a 5-4 loss to the Mariners.

Here are a handful of thoughts, observations and insights on the Tribe.

Roster games: Remember the Gio Urshela/Erik González battle for the Indians’ utility role? It’s ongoing, though you may have forgotten. Urshela continues to rehab at Class AAA Columbus, though the Indians will have to make a decision on him by next week. Position players can join a minor-league team on a rehab assignment for up to 20 days. Urshela has spent the last two weeks with the Clippers.

The Indians haven’t called upon González much. He has appeared in nine games, with one start at second base. Otherwise, he has entered as a pinch-runner or in mop-up duty.

The club will likely expose one of the two to waivers (or bid adieu in a trade), since both Urshela and González are out of options. The Indians certainly wouldn’t want to risk losing both guys, but I’m still a bit stumped about the team’s plans for Yandy Díaz. The 26-year-old is up to his usual shenanigans at Class AAA: a boatload of singles, a handful of doubles and a sterling walk/strikeout ratio. Diaz could probably aid the Indians’ cause more if he had defensive versatility. Instead, the club kept him at third base during spring training.

Even as a third baseman, Díaz could help the Indians spell Jason Kipnis or Yonder Alonso against some tough lefties, with José Ramírez sliding over to second base or Edwin Encarnacion shifting to first. It’s a long season. Díaz figures to join the fold at some point, in some manner.

Roster games II: Josh Tomlin’s leash as the No. 5 starter will be a bit longer than what many reactionary fans would choose. Tomlin has only made three starts this season, and in one, he held the Tigers scoreless across five innings. The other two outings, though, have been …

(searches thesaurus for synonym for “bad”) … miserable? Nah. … rotten? Warmer. … nightmarish? Yeah, that’ll work.

Tomlin has served up eight home runs in 6 2/3 innings in those two starts. The Indians are hopeful he’ll pinpoint the necessary remedy. He knows he has a smaller margin for error than other pitchers, who throw a tad harder than the 86.7 mph he’s averaging on his fastball this season. Some people like to live on the edge; Tomlin literally has to — if he misses over the heart of the plate, the baseball will wind up orbiting the sun.

It’s not as though there’s an army of hurlers ready to execute a coup of Tomlin’s rotation spot, though. Ryan Merritt remains in Arizona, likely for one more start in extended spring training before he heads east to begin a minor-league rehab assignment. If Danny Salazar’s recovery program were the life cycle of a butterfly, he’d still be a little caterpillar.

The Indians’ Class AAA rotation includes Shawn Morimando (don’t view his numbers if you have a sensitive stomach), Adam Plutko (pitching well after recovering from hip surgery), Alexi Ogando (has pitched well, but hasn’t pitched deep), Stephen Fife (11.15 ERA in four starts) and Adam Wilk (is Adam Wilk).

Tomlin’s seat might be warm, but he’ll have time to attempt to rectify things.

By the same token, don’t be surprised if Shane Bieber receives serious consideration for a spot start next week when the Indians host the Blue Jays for a double header. Bieber, the control artist (that sounds better than “control freak”), has yet to issue a walk in 26 innings this season. He has logged a 1.04 ERA in four starts, with all three runs allowed coming in his most recent trip to the mound. He has walked 12 in 223 1/3 innings in parts of three seasons in the Indians’ system. Bieber or Plutko could factor into the team’s plans for next week. See ball, hit ball: Michael Brantley is up to his old tricks, with a .309 average and a 109 wRC+ through 60 plate appearances this season. He’s literally hitting everything. In the era of three true outcomes (walk, strikeout, home run), Brantley has done any of those three things in only 10 percent of his trips to the batter’s box.

Brantley’s walk rate 2013: 6.5 percent 2014: 7.7 percent 2015: 10.1 percent 2017: 8.3 percent 2018: 1.7 percent Brantley’s strikeout rate

2013: 11.0 percent 2014: 8.3 percent 2015: 8.6 percent 2017: 13.3 percent 2018: 6.7 percent For reference, Joe Panik posted the best strikeout rate in the league (among qualified hitters) last year, at 9.4 percent. Tim Anderson posted the lowest walk rate, at 2.1 percent.

Entering Thursday’s series opener against Seattle, Brantley boasted a contact rate of 97.5 percent, a spike from his career average of 91.3 percent. His numbers indicate a significant jump in contact rate on pitches outside the strike zone, from 73.5 percent last year to 95.0 percent this year.

See ball, miss ball: Edwin Encarnacion is a notoriously slow starter. Through 96 plate appearances, he owns a .628 OPS, 69 wRC+ and has tallied 28 strikeouts. The main concern about his season-opening swoon might be his walk rate. March/April 2017 Walk rate: 16.0 percent Strikeout rate: 33.0 pecent Overall in 2017 Walk rate: 15.5 percent Strikeout rate: 19.9 percent So far in 2018 Walk rate: 7.3 percent Strikeout rate: 29.2 percent Hard hat area: José Ramírez has lost his helmet only once through the Indians’ first 23 games. At this juncture last season, Ramírez had recorded four wayward helmets. It seems like a safe bet to say he won’t match his 2016 output, when he lost 57 helmets during the regular season and five more during the team’s playoff run.

Miller's absence felt by Indians as Mariners win 5-4 The Associated Press CLEVELAND (AP) -- The first day without Andrew Miller didn't work out too well for the Cleveland Indians.

Kyle Seager's RBI double in the eighth off Nick Goody lifted the Seattle Mariners to a 5-4 win on Thursday night.

With Miller on the disabled list after straining his left hamstring on Wednesday, the AL Central-leading Indians used three relievers in the eighth.

Cleveland overcame a 4-0 deficit with two runs each in the sixth and seventh innings. A tie game in that spot would usually result in Miller making an appearance, but that won't be the case for at least the next 10 days.

Jean Segura hit a leadoff groundout off Dan Otero, and Robinson Cano took a called third strike from Jeff Beliveau, who was called up from the minors before the game.

Goody (0-1) relieved and allowed consecutive doubles to Nelson Cruz and Seager. Mitch Haniger was intentionally walked, and Mike Zunino popped out.

Indians manager Terry Francona knows he'll have to use more of a matchup strategy in the late innings without Miller, who hasn't allowed a run this season.

''Otero came in, did a great job,'' he said. ''Beliveau came in and got Cano, which was good. Nick, the pitch to Cruz wasn't a bad pitch. He was trying to get it down out of the zone and it didn't get out of the zone, and he left a ball up to Seager.''

Seager is batting .378 (34 for 90) with five homers and 13 RBIs in 23 games at Progressive Field.

''It hurt my feelings a little bit because it didn't get out,'' he joked of his winning hit. ''That was the best I've hit a ball in a while and it stayed in the park.''

Dan Altavilla (2-2) got the last two outs in the seventh, and Juan Nicasio pitched a perfect eighth. Edwin Diaz, the Mariners' fifth reliever, walked Francisco Lindor with one out in the ninth, then retired Jason Kipnis on a flyout and struck out Jose Ramirez. Diaz leads the major leagues with 11 saves and has not blown any chances.

''We've been winning a lot of close games and Eddie's stuff was right there, like it has been the last three games,'' Mariners manager Scott Servais said.

Seattle's James Paxton matched a career high with 10 strikeouts, allowing two runs and five hits in six innings, throwing 100 pitches.

''I felt good and I thought I did some good things, but I was upset with the (three) walks,'' he said.

Yonder Alonso hit a two-run homer in the sixth, and the Indians tied the score in the seventh on Kipnis' RBI double against Marc Rzepczynski and Edwin Encarnacion's run-scoring single off Altavilla.

Coming off his first big league shutout, a two-hitter at Baltimore, Mike Clevinger gave up four runs and eight hits in six innings.

Ryon Healy, activated from the disabled list after missing 16 games with a sprained right ankle, singled in the third as Seattle took a 3-0 lead in a seven-pitch span with two outs. Healy scored on Dee Gordon's triple, and Segura had an RBI double and came home on Cano's single.

Zunino had an RBI single in the fourth. Cano appeared to hit a two-out homer in the fifth, but his drive was to left was ruled a double after a crew chief video review.

WERTH IT OF Jayson Werth finalized his minor league contract with the Mariners and was 0 for 3 in his debut with Triple-A Tacoma on Wednesday. The 38-year-old has a .267 average in 15 major league seasons, the last seven with Washington.

MELK MAN OF Melky Cabrera, who signed a minor league deal with the Indians this week, would get a $1 million salary in the major leagues if added to the 40-man roster. He could earn $1 million in performance bonuses based on plate appearances: $100,000 for 200, and $150,000 each for 250, 300, 350, 400, 450 and 500.

TOUGH CROWD The majority of the 12,133 fans booed when the scoreboard said the Browns selected quarterback Baker Mayfield with the first pick in the NFL draft.

UP NEXT Mariners RHP Erasmo Ramirez makes his second start of the season Friday after returning from a shoulder injury. He allowed five runs in 4 2/3 innings against Texas last Sunday. Cleveland RHP Corey Kluber (3-1) pitched a six-hitter against the Mariners on opening day but lost 2-1 on Cruz's two-run homer in the first inning.

Covering the Bases: Game 23 by Jordan Bastian FIRST: Nick Goody looked a bit confused when reporters approached him after Wednesday night’s win. He joked that — in he world of relievers — having media at your locker isn’t always a good sign.

“It’s a little bit like, ‘Oh [shoot], they’re coming,’” Goody said with a laugh.

Twenty-four hours later, reporters were looking for Goody again.

After the win over the Cubs, Goody was sought for the work that he and Tyler Olson did in the wake of Andrew Miller’s unexpected exit due to injury. Following Thursday’s loss to Seattle, it was because Goody was on the wrong end of the decisive run in an inning Miller might normally have handled.

Here is the chain of events that led to Goody’s part in the eighth inning:

Starter Mike Clevinger gives up four runs between the third and fourth innings, but gathers himself enough to work into the seventh. Dan Otero takes over with a runner on first and no outs in the seventh and proceeds to record four outs via three ground balls. The Tribe offense pushes two runs across in the seventh to pull the game into a 4–4 deadlock. With one out in the eighth, Jeff Beliveau (called up from Triple-A before the game when Miller landed on the disabled list) strikes out Robinson Cano. Francona hands the ball to Goody with Nelson Cruz looming. Tie game in the eighth against the heart of Seattle’s order? That’s Miller territory. Without Miller, however, this was an initial look at how manager Terry Francona will need to mix and match over the next 10 days. It worked for two batters plus two pitches.

Goody first got Cruz to chase a slider low and out of the zone for strike one and then fired a fastball for a called strike two. Down 0–2 with two outs, Cruz then took another heater and breaking ball to work the count even. The way Goody viewed things, those two pitches are where he erred.

“I probably should have put him away a little sooner. That’s on me,” Goody said. “I need to execute a little bit better.”

The fifth pitch in the sequence was another slider low in the zone, but Cruz went down and got it and sent it bouncing off the left-field wall for a double. Kyle Seager followed with another double — this one on a 1–1 fastball — to put Cleveland behind for good.

“The pitch to Cruz wasn’t a bad pitch,” Francona said. “He was just trying to get it down and out of the zone and it didn’t’ get out of the zone. And then he left a ball up to Seager.”

SECOND: There are two qualities that are critical for a reliever, especially those handling higher-leverage situations.

First, a reliever has to maintain a short memory. Whether it’s a good or bad day at the office, it’s critical to learn from what took place and then swiftly wipe the slate clean. Goody is improving when it comes to that important mind-set in the bullpen.

“It’s a long season,” Goody said with a smile. “Once 12 o’clock hits, it’s a new day. I’ll be fine.”

The other attribute that is important is focusing on process over results. It’s easy for players — pitchers or hitters — to look at the box score and beat themselves up over what took place. What’s more important is to focus on what can’t be seen in the black-and-white print.

Not every 0-for-4 is created equal. If a hitter scorches four balls right at defenders, it’s easier to walk away with their head high, as opposed to four strikeouts or infield pop-ups. Along the same lines, sometimes a pitcher makes a good pitch and the batter simply takes a good swing.

After Thursday’s game, Goody was focused on the positive aspects of his outing — not dwelling on the two doubles.

“The outcome was bad, but I was throwing strikes,” Goody said. “My stuff was not bad. I was ahead of [Cruz]. I think I had him 0–2 or 1–2. I was ahead in the count. I just didn’t put him away.”

Goody said he is learning to concentrate more on the process after his outings.

“Absolutely,” he said. “I come in for one out, don’t do my job, yeah, that sucks. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s a very long season. I feel great. My stuff is getting there. It wasn’t bad tonight, but it wasn’t good. If he would have swung through that, then we wouldn’t [be talking]. But, he hit it. It’s part of baseball.”

THIRD: Prior to Wednesday’s game, Francona was asked about Edwin Encarnacion’s struggles at the plate. Then, Encarnacion went 2-for-3 with a home run in the win over the Cubs.

“Who do you want to ask about today?” Francona joked before Thursday’s game.

The manager was then asked about Jason Kipnis, who headed into the night with a .159 average. Francona expressed optimism that the struggling second baseman would turn it around, saying, “as long as he stays healthy, he’ll get hot. He’s too good not to.”

Then, Kipnis went out and enjoyed a 2-for-4 night with an RBI double, walk and run scored. Kipnis’ RBI double in the seventh inning — off lefty Marc Rzepczynski, no less — had an exit velocity of 105.1 mph, making it the second-hardest hit ball of the game, per Statcast.

“That was a nice swing off of Zep,” Francona said. “Zep’s tough on lefties, and he had a good at-bat and drove that ball to center field. That’s got to be good for him.”

HOME: It would be easy to get lost in the outcome, but there was a critical call that went against the Indians that arguably changed the entire complexion of the bottom of the ninth.

Mariners closer Edwin Diaz was on the hill with Bradley Zimmer in the batter’s box. Including Thursday’s outing, Diaz has a 0.68 ERA with 11 saves, 13 games finished and 25 strikeouts in 13.1 innings. He hardly needs any help right now, but he got some with the game on the line.

Diaz fell behind, 2–0, before inducing a swinging strike and working the count even with a foul ball. Then, the closer fired this fastball to Zimmer: Home-plate umpire Mike DiMuro called it a strike and Zimmer immediately crouched down in disbelief. Zimmer is not one to get into an argument with an umpire, but the young outfielder briefly stepped out of character and turned to face DiMuro.

Zimmer and the umpire exchanged a few brief words before the center fielder gave a quick shake of the head and walked back to the dugout.

No, this call was not the reason the Indians lost. The inability to mount anything early against James Paxton, combined with Clevinger’s troubles in the third and fourth, loomed largest in this one. But, that strike call altered the ninth, when Cleveland was down, 5–4.

If that’s a ball, the at-bat stays alive and maybe Zimmer — and his elite speed — reaches base for the top of the Tribe lineup. As it happened, Francisco Lindor followed with a walk before Diaz retired Kipnis and Jose Ramirez.

Tito and Miller minutiae: April 26 Q: Can you walk us through the decision to place Miller on the DL?

Francona: “He got MRI’d today and the results were, I think, what we hoped for. Low-grade strain. And there was certainly thought to maybe, if he was going to be five or six days, to not DL him. I think because it’s April — and we sat down with Andrew together — we lean on him so hard. Then, there’s the temptation to bring him back early. As hard as it is not to have him, the 10 days makes sense. And it makes sense to him, even though he doesn’t want to go on the DL. It’s the right thing to do. It’s just hard to do it, but it’s the right thing to do.”

Q: How much of a difference does the 10-day DL make for a situation like this one?

Francona: “He probably would have not been a DL if it was 15. That’s for sure.”

Q: What adjustments did Jeff Beliveau make this season?

Francona: “His breaking ball. His curveball, specifically. He hasn’t given up a run. As a kid, in Tampa his rookie year, he kind of had a pretty solid rookie year. Then he hurt his shoulder and he kinda had to fight back from that. Kind of bounced around a bit the last couple years. But, he’s a great kid. He’s really been pitching well. And the hope is, kind of like [Tyler] Olson last year, you get an opportunity and you jump on and take advantage of it, and he helps us win.”

Q: How will you handle the innings Miller would’ve worked in?

Francona: “That will be different, because we don’t necessarily care left or right with Andrew. We bring him in the game, he’s pitching. So you’ll see a little bit more mixing and matching.”

Q: What did you think of the way Olson handled coming in after Miller’s injury?

Francona: “That was really impressive. That’s not an easy thing to do. You kind of feel punched in the stomach when Andrew has to leave the game. And then, if things unravel from there, it makes for a really tough night. But the way he pitched, it made it kind of fun.

“We always look at it as, OK, it’s tough. You don’t want to lose good players. But, this can kind of be our time to shine a little bit. And when you involve other guys in it and you still win, that’s when the team starts to find some personality and things like that.”

Q: What have you thought about the attitudes of guys like Nick Goody and Olson, who want grow into Miller and Cody Allen-type roles?

Francona: “I think, like the starters, the bullpen takes a lot of pride in a lot of things that are good. One is being available. We’ve talked about it a ton, as we should. They work so hard to be available and that’s an important thing. That way, we trust them so much that, when they’re not available, that’s OK. But, we can pitch them a lot without pitching them too much, because that’s really the goal.”

Q: Olson mentioned last night that he probably could’ve taken a few extra warm-up pitches…

Francona: “That was the last thing I told him. That was really the only thing I told him. I told him what the count was, then I said, ‘You take all [the time] you want. Don’t let anybody rush you.’ But I think it’s human nature, everybody is kind of waiting around so you want to hustle. I think we found out last year pretty early on about his makeup. When we went to Boston, I think he had an outing or two under his belt with us, but he got forced into a lengthy appearance. I kept checking him after the inning, because I didn’t really know him that well, and there was no false bravado. It just kind of seemed like he was enjoying getting people out. He’s been the same ever since.”

Q: What have you seen improve within Mike Clevinger’s outings?

Francona: “When he works ahead, because he has three quality pitches, he’s really good. When he falls behind, it doesn’t mean he can’t win, it just makes it harder. Then, you see the longer innings and things like that. I think Mickey did a lot of good things with him last year. He’d get so amped up that I think he’d forget what he was trying to do last year. Sometimes, almost like a bull in a china shop. Now, he’s understanding that you can be amped up, but you’ve got to locate, you’ve got to work ahead. Like young pitchers, he’s learning as he goes, but because he’s got three quality pitches, he’s going to be really good.”

Q: Yesterday, we asked about Encarnacion and then he went out and homered…

Francona (laughs): “Who do you want to ask about today?”

Q: What have you seen within Jason Kipnis’ at-bats?

Francona: “You know, I feel like even though he’s not gotten a bunch of hits, I do feel like he’s closer. I know a couple of times, like he hit that ball to the right fielder that — just a really pretty swing and got nothing to show for it. Sometimes you need a break to kind of get going. You can tell guys all you want, ‘Hey, good swing.’ They want to see some results. Until you do, I think human nature is that you press a little bit. But, I just think as long as he stays healthy, he’ll get hot. He’s too good not to.”

Q: Did you see LeBron’s shot last night?

Francona: “I did. I heard the crowd, and I had a TV right over my right shoulder. I didn’t want to act like I was watching it, but I saw it. Because at the time, things there were getting a little hairy. Yeah, it was pretty cool.”

Q: Francona said you had a similar hamstring injury when you were with the Orioles?

Miller: “Yeah. As far as I can tell, it’s pretty much the same exact thing. I don’t know it’s just the way I throw or the way I’m built or what. I don’t know whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but at least we have something to draw from experience-wise when dealing with it. It’s more frustrating than concerning, which is I guess a better place to be.”

Q: Did the fact that the DL is 10 days now play into the decision to accept the decision?

Miller: “Yeah. I think last time I pitched seven days after it happened or something like that, going back and looking at it. It was a little bit different situation, but yeah, just with the DL being 10 days now, it just makes sense. I don’t want to go on the DL. I don’t think it’s going to take 10 days. I’m more concerned with — I already talked to [pitching coach Carl Willis] about it — I felt like I was really sharpening up, and making sure we don’t lose that. So, I think it’s just you don’t want to hang 24 guys out to dry for, call it, seven or eight days if you don’t have to. It’s the right thing to do, even if it’s not the most desirable thing for me personally.”

NOTE: Miller tweaked his left hamstring on Sept. 1, 2014, while with Baltimore. He did not appear in a game again until Sept. 6 in that instance. Q: How much does it add to the frustration that you felt like you were “sharpening up” on the mound?

Miller: “That is all the frustration. I felt like I was kind of, I wouldn’t say last night was the case, but in general the weather was warming up and I feel like I was kind of making the adjustments I had been looking to make. I saw that particularly the last game in Baltimore. The way this game goes, you try to lock on to something and ride it out as long as you can. It’s just unfortunate this kind of stalled what I thought was going to be a really nice run. I think I won’t have to shut it down for too long. Hopefully I’m back on a mound pretty soon and I can get back to maintaining that direction.”

Q: It looked like you felt discomfort immediately?

Miller: “Yeah, and that’s, again, it was pretty much the same exact thing last time it happened. It was immediate, but not to the point where it was debilitating. I walked off the mound and I walked all the way up here. Yeah, I knew I did it. I’m glad I didn’t throw another pitch. Sometimes our better judgement isn’t great in those situations. Fortunately, I was able to kind of stop myself.”

Q: What did you think of how Olson and Goody handled that situation Wednesday night?

Miller: “Those guys were awesome. We’ve seen it a lot of times. I think that they’re going to be asked to do more right now, but I think they’re ready for it. They’ve done a great job. Particularly, Tyler’s position coming in last night is not an easy place to be. It’s not a fun thing to do. To come in and do the job he did is really impressive. I don’t think we should be that impressed by him anymore. He’s been doing it pretty consistently for us.”

Q: What have you thought about how Olson has embraced anything thrown at him since coming up last year? Miller: “Yeah, he’s done a great job with everything he’s been asked to do. You can tell based on the wings guys are taking off him, it’s not comfortable and he’s definitely in control. Yeah, you watch him, you definitely get the impression that he’s locked in, he’s ready to go and nothing seems to faze him. That’s certainly a quality attribute. I think a lot of times we do a better job of at least outwardly showing that. Inside, maybe you feel different things as you get new experiences, but he looks ready for anything and he’s certainly capable.”

Q: Are you confident you can return after 10 days? Miller: “I mean, I can’t look into the future, but I don’t think I need 10 days. I think in Baltimore, what we think is a similar thing, I think I pitched in a game seven days later, I think is what we said. So, yeah, it just makes sense. It’s part of this new 10-day DL. It’s the way it is. I think if it was the old 15 days, I would like to think we probably aren’t having this conversation. I’m probably in there getting treatment, trying to figure out how I can get back on the fifth, sixth or seventh day.”

Q: How much of a difference has the 10-day DL made for teams? Miller: “I think it’s made a huge difference. I think the numbers do back it up a little bit last year. I just think it’s the right thing to do for the team. As much as I don’t want to have a DL stint attached to my name, as much as I want to be out there every game possible, it’s the way the system is and I think it’s the right thing for the team.”

Indians bats remain on the cold side | Opinion By David Glasier, The News-Herald While it’s early in the 2018 season, it’s not too early to voice concern about the Indians’ thus-far disappointing offense.

Against the Seattle Mariners on April 26, in the opener of a four-game series at Progressive Field, the Indians’ bats again under-performed in a 5-4 loss.

Managing only seven hits against six Seattle pitchers, the Indians stranded eight baserunners.

The last of those stranded runners, Francisco Lindor, was on his way from first base to second base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning when Seattle closer Edwin Diaz struck out Jose Ramirez to seal the win for the Mariners. Seattle pitchers recorded 14 strikeouts on the night when the Mariners built a 4-0 lead, then watched the Indians claw their way back to a 4-4 deadlock.

When it mattered, though, the Mariners pushed across the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth inning. The Indians, as has been their custom this season, couldn’t muster a run in their final two at-bats.

This was business as usual for the Indians, who came into the game with a team batting average of .218.

That average was an embarrassing 14th in the 15-team American League and 29th among 30 big-league teams. Their 81 runs scored are tied for 26th with the Baltimore Orioles..

In six of their victories, the Indians scored four runs or fewer. Seven of their losses have come with three or fewer runs on the board.

This is not good and you can’t spin it as such even though the Indians are a sort-of respectable 13-10 and in first place in the American League Central Division.

They are where they are because their pitching has kept them in games when the hitters are flailing and failing.

As for leading the division, how much does that matter when the AL Central is at this juncture the weakest of baseball’s six divisions?

Coming out of the game against Seattle, four players in the Indians’ starting lineup had batting averages beneath .200. They are Brandon Guyer (.143), Rajai Davis (.150), Jason Kipnis (.174) and Edwin Encarnacion (.178).

Lindor, the leadoff man, is scuffling at .215.

The one batter performing up to expectations average-wise is Michael Brantley at .310. While it’s nice to see Brantley healthy and available after two seasons largely lost in injuries and surgeries, his one home run and eight RBI don’t much move the needle.

First baseman Yonder Alonso, a solid free-agent acquisition, is batting .225 but producing with team-high totals of six home runs and 15 RBI. He slugged a two-run home run to get the Indians on the board against the Mariners.

While it’s true the Indians have played through some miserable weather this season, so have the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and other teams that have faced the same challenge and managed much higher team batting averages than the Indians.

The track record in recent seasons points toward the now slumbering bats coming alive and combining with the usually solid pitching to make the Indians a force to be reckoned with in months to come.

Until that happens, it’s going to be struggle city for the Indians no matter how many strings get pulled by manager Terry Francona.

Captains take a loss, enjoy some home cooking By David Glasier, The News-Herald From a baseball standpoint, there wasn’t much for the Lake County Captains to savor in a 8-3 loss to the West Michigan Whitecaps on April 26 at Classic Park.

They came up on the short end in a long, untidy game that produced a combined 24 strikeouts, 12 walks and 20 stranded baserunners on 362 pitches by seven pitchers. West Michigan (12-6) never looked back after getting to Lake County starter and eventual loser Grant Hockin (1-3, 6.27 ERA) for six runs in the top of the fourth inning. The Captains (10-9) managed three runs on 13 hits, one of them a solo home run by Tyler Friis.

The Whitecaps salvaged the finale of a four-game series after three straight losses to the Captains. Included in those losses was a seven- inning no-hitter co-authored by Captains pitchers Francisco Perez and James Karinchak on April 25 in a 3-0 win. If the series finale left a bad taste in the mouths of Captains manager Luke Carlin and his players, the post-game spread had the opposite effect.

Waiting for the Captains when they returned to the home clubhouse was a Latin-influened meal prepared by pitchers Domingo Jimenez and Gregori Vasquez, both natives of the Dominican Republic.

On the menu were two kinds of rice, savory pork, stewed chicken (pollo de quisado), and two salads.

Strength coach Juan Acevedo said he had accompanied Jimenez and Vasquez on a shopping trip to the nearby Walmart in Eastlake to procure the fixings.

Carlin said the event was called “Latin Day” and was a continuation of a practice he established last season while managing many of the same players at short-season Single-A Mahoning Valley.

“One day each month during the season, we let the players choose the meal and prepare it. We do it win, lose or draw,” Carlin said, smiling.

Jimenez and Vasquez were granted permission to be in the clubhouse during the game to prepare the meal.

The smiles on the faces of the players while waiting in line for Carlin to take the first servings and the quiet in the room as everyone ate spoke volumes about the satisfaction level with the home cooking.

No one was more eager to dig in than Carlin, who remembered his introduction to Latin-influenced food from Ramon Pena, a native of the Dominican Republic and Carlin’s teammate at Northeastern University. Both would eventually make it to the big leagues.

Carlin said he made numerous weekend trips to the Pena family home in Massachusetts, where Pena’s mother cooked meals that introduced Carlin’s tastebuds to a tempting array of new food preparations and flavors.

Five seasons of playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic sealed Carlin’s yen for Latin-style food. He fondly recalled preparing pollo de quisado on a Food Network TV show while playing for the San Diego Padres in 2008.

Carlin nodded enthusiastically in the affirmative when asked if his players could expect monthly home-cooking events through the remainder of this season.

Columbus Clippers catcher Eric Haase is comfortable in transition: Cleveland Indians Minors (video) By Branson Wright, The Plain Dealer COLUMBUS, Ohio - The teasing started shortly after Eric Haase made the decision to sign with Ohio State out of high school.

"I'd get it all the time," said Haase, a Michigan native. "But going down seeing the facilities and talking with the coaching staff seemed like the best fit for me. But being in Columbus now seems kind of funny."

Haas never played for the Buckeyes because the Cleveland Indians drafted him in the seventh-round of the 2011 draft. It might be funny that Haas still ended up in Columbus but his transition from a third-baseman to a catcher was not always humorous.

"It was a little tough," said Haase about the transition. "I didn't really catch to later in my high school career. Going down to Arizona (rookie ball) and catching some of those guys was a little bit of a task. But once I started catching on with that, things improved as I started to move up." Unfortunately, Haase's bat has slowed a bit since hitting .341 on April 20 to currently at .274. One of his best games behind the plate was when he threw out three would-be-stealers vs. Durham on April 13.

One man show In the first nine games of the season, only Greg Allen even attempted a steal, successfully converting all four of his tries. After his scratch in game #10, three Clippers (Yandy Diaz, Brandon Barnes and Todd Hankins) had six steals in three games, but nobody tried in the first four games of Allen's return. Tuesday night Eric Haase broke that streak with a steal and Diaz was caught twice.

Charged Yu Chang has hit .435 (10-for-23) over his last seven games, bumping his average from .133 to .264. Among his 10 hits are five doubles, moving him into a tie for 3rd on the IL double board (6). Over the last 10 team games, Chang is the only hitter above .265 and he is tied with Francisco Mejia with six RBI. On the season, he has eight RBI, 3rd most on the team (only player with 0 HR and more than six RBI).

Lynchburg Hillcats starter Justin Garza is honored again: Cleveland Indians Minors Report By Branson Wright, The Plain Dealer CLEVELAND, Ohio - Lynchburg Hillcats starter Justin Garza was named the Carolina League Pitcher of the Week for April for the second straight week on April 16-22.

Garza has not allowed a run in three starts. In a win last Friday against the Potomac Nationals, he took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, and was lifted with two outs. He finished with seven strikeouts in his second win of the season. Garza, a right-hander, has thrown 15.2 scoreless innings and has allowed just four hits while striking out 19. He's one of two pitchers in the Carolina League who has not allowed an earned run through three starts. He ranks first in the league in WHIP (0.51). League opponents are also batting just .082 against Garza, the best BAA in the Carolina League.

Garza also has the fewest baserunners in a 9 innings pitched ratio in the league at 5.74 and the fifth in highest strikeout/ 9 IP ratio (10.91).

BATS STARTING TO BURN The bats have heated up for the Hillcats, as the team has raised its average from .188 to .225 (37 points) over its last seven games. Four Hillcats players now have hitting streaks of five or more (Longo-9, Capel-8, Tapia-8, Collins-6). Lynchburg has now out-hit their opponent in nine of the team's 16 games this season.

LONG STREAK LONGO Hillcats OF Mitch Longo has reached base safely in all 15 games he's appeared in this season. Longo's on-base streak extends to 20 games dating back to his final regular season appearance last year on August 31, and 23 games if you count the three postseason games during Lynchburg's championship run. Longo is currently riding an eight-game hitting streak and has also worked seven walks this season, tied for third-most on the team.

Mariners 5, Indians 4: 13 Walk-Off Thoughts on a rough day for the bullpen, Trevor Bauer’s first outing of the season, a bad hop By Ryan Lewis Here are 11 Walk-Off Thoughts after the Indians’ 5-4 loss to the Seattle Mariners Thursday night. 1. When Andrew Miller left the game Wednesday night, clutching at his left hamstring, so too did the security blanket the Indians normally get to enjoy in any tight game around the seventh or eighth innings. Miller was placed on the 10-day disabled list on Thursday. And of course, Thursday night’s game script exposed the loss of the tall lefty with the military-grade slider. 2. The Indians and Mariners entered the eighth tied 4-4. With the heart of the Mariners’ order due up in a tied game, that inning would normally fall under Miller’s jurisdiction. With him out, the Indians attempted to piece the eighth together. Dan Otero finished his outing by inducing Jean Segura into a groundout. Jeff Beliveau, added to the 40-man roster and promoted to the major leagues on Thursday to replace Miller, struck out Robinson Cano looking. That’s when the Indians turned to Nick Goody, and things went south. Nelson Cuz doubled to center and Kyle Seager doubled off the top of the left-field wall, and the Mariners took a 5-4 lead. 3. Goody threw a 2-2 slider to Cruz low in the zone. He didn’t hang it, but it also didn’t get quite as low as it needed to be. Said Indians manager Terry Francona: “Otero came int and did a great job. Beliveau came in and got Cano, which was good. And then Nick, the pitch to Cruz wasn’t a bad pitch he was just trying to get it down and out of the zone and it didn’t’ get out of the zone, and then he left a ball up to Seager.” 4. There isn’t much cause to overly dissect one outing, or become too concerned with the fact that Miller could only be out for 10 days. But, this short period of time could also serve as a larger snapshot for what life could be like for the Indians without Miller (and, possibly, Cody Allen) after the 2018 season. 5. It also illustrates why, while the Indians stand a good chance of remaining a World Series contender through at least 2020, there still is a sense of urgency to this season due to some potential free agent losses. Primarily, that means in the bullpen, which has been among baseball’s elite since the 2016 trade deadline. 6. The recent free-agent market, even as dozens of players were unexpectedly left without deals, watched as pitchers like Bryan Shaw and Tommy Hunter earned Andrew Miller money. Once Miller hits free agency this time around, he’s likely to see a significant increase. That goes for Allen as well, if the Indians cant lock either up. This Miller disabled list appearance is likely to not last long. But it’s also another reminder that life in the Indians bullpen as they know it might only have this season left. 7. Two hundred innings. That was what Mike Clevinger had set as a goal this winter. That plateau is also something he mentioned about a week ago. He wants to stick in the starting rotation. He wants to carry his own weight, which isn’t the easiest task when following Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer. And he wants to last deeper into games. 8. That’s easier to do when he’s at the top of his game, as he was in his recent shutout in Baltimore. Thursday night’s start against the Mariners wasn’t as smooth. Clevinger was tagged for a three-run inning and four runs in the first four innings. The Indians responded by starting the engines on their bullpen, preparing for a long night. From that point, Clevinger nearly gave up a home run, but he managed to toss two scoreless innings. It not only bought the Indians offense some time to erase the deficit, it also eased the burden on the bullpen. 9. Being able to grind through a start in which either a pitcher doesn’t have his best stuff or is simply knocked around is a trait that former Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway used to look for as Carrasco and Danny Salazar were each trying to find sustained success. That was what Clevinger was able to do, at least to an extent, on Thursday night. 10. Said Francona: “And that’s part of why tend to at least try to give the starter a chance not to just get such a quick hook because that happens and then all of a sudden, not only do you burn out your pen but you give yourself a better chance to win.” 11. Clevinger has had three terrific starts and two that weren’t as sharp. His season ERA is now at 2.56 and he’s been a boon for an already top-of-the-line Indians rotation. Though, he’s rarely satisfied. Said Clevinger: “I just feel like it was baseball. I felt like I had good stuff. I was missing my location a little bit more than usual today, but it happens to everybody. I feel like I had it the whole way. I just had a hiccup in that inning and the Dee Gordon triple on a changeup out of the zone, it carried a lot further than I expected it to. I just needed to retain my focus right there and get back to it.” Indians notebook: Andrew Miller placed on 10-day disabled list with left hamstring strain, Jeff Beliveau called up By Ryan Lewis CLEVELAND: The Indians placed All-Star reliever Andrew Miller on the 10-day disabled list Thursday with a strained left hamstring and purchased the contract of left-handed reliever Jeff Beliveau. Miller, a vital piece to the bullpen and roster, grabbed for his left hamstring on the second pitch he threw in Wednesday night’s 4-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. Miller underwent an MRI on Thursday, which revealed a low-grade strain, according to Indians manager Terry Francona. That was just about the best-case scenario for the Indians after having to watch one of the league’s best relievers walk off the mound with a trainer. Both Miller and the Indians said that if a trip to the disabled list still required 15 days, which was formerly the rule, they likely would have skipped the trip to the disabled list and instead simply had him down for a few days to receive treatment and let it rest. The injury isn’t as severe, and having Miller down 10 days is taking the cautious route. “We lean on him so hard,” Francona said. “Then there’s the temptation to bring him back early. As hard as it is not to have him, the 10 days makes sense. And it makes sense to him. Even though he doesn’t want to go on the DL. It’s the right thing to do. It’s just hard to do it. But it’s the right thing to do.” Miller sustained a similar injury during his time with the Baltimore Orioles and says he was pitching seven days later. His hope, then, is to be ready to go when he’s eligible to come off the disabled list. “As far as I can tell, it’s pretty much the same exact thing,” Miller said. “I don’t know if it’s just the way I throw or the way I’m built or what. I don’t know whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but at least we have something to draw from experience-wise when dealing with it. It’s more frustrating than concerning, which is I guess a better place to be.” A key aspect to the bullpen this season involved the Indians figuring out how to divide the workload left behind by the departed Bryan Shaw between Dan Otero, Zach McAllister, Nick Goody and Tyler Olson. That grouping hasn’t had as many chances as expected due to the starting rotation pitching deeper into games and Miller and Cody Allen beginning the season on a torrid pace. They’ll certainly have more of a chance with Miller out. Beliveau was a non-roster invitee to camp this spring. To make room for his addition on the 40-man roster, Jack Leathersich was designated for assignment. Beliveau this spring had a 4.15 ERA and felt he wasn’t attacking hitters enough. He made that his mission at Triple-A and turned in 8⅔ scoreless innings before getting the promotion on Thursday. Mariners 5, Indians 4: Indians come back but fall short in loss By Ryan Lewis CLEVELAND: The Indians fought back once but weren’t able to dodge the counterpunch. After erasing a four-run deficit, the Indians ultimately lost to the Seattle Mariners 5-4 Thursday night at Progressive Field. Indians pitcher Mike Clevinger, making his fifth start of the season, had been superb in three of his outings. Thursday night’s start fell into the other category. Clevinger was roughed up in the third inning after getting two outs. Ryon Healy singled and scored on Dee Gordon’s triple. Jean Segura doubled and scored on Robison Cano’s single to put the Mariners ahead 3-0. An inning later, Mike Zunino singled home Kyle Seager, who singled to open the inning and advanced to second on a groundout. Clevinger allowed four runs on four hits and a walk and struck out five in six innings. His ERA went from 1.75 to 2.56. “Three or four hitters in a row, balls caught way too much of the plate and he paid for it,” Indians manager Terry Francona said of Clevinger. “Other than that, he did pretty good. We ended up getting our ’pen up in the fourth and he ended up pitching effectively a couple more innings.” The Indians cut the Mariners’ 4-0 lead in half in the sixth and then tied it in the seventh. With Mariners left-handed starter James Paxton still on the mound in the sixth, Yonder Alonso belted a two-run home run, his sixth of the season. Jason Kipnis brought the Indians back against an old teammate. The Mariners turned to lefty Marc Rzepczynski to face Kipnis with Francisco Lindor on second base in the seventh. Like Alonso against Paxton, the left-handed Kipnis won the battle and ripped a double to left field to make it 4-3. Edwin Encarnacion later singled to right-center to make it 4-4. In the top of the eighth, the Mariners got to Indians reliever Nick Goody for the go-ahead run. Nelson Cruz, Goody’s first hitter, doubled to center field to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Seager followed with a double off the top of the wall, again putting the Mariners on top. The Indians came back once but couldn’t pull it off a second time. Lindor walked against Mariners closer Edwin Diaz in the ninth, but Jose Ramirez struck out to end the game. Akron Beacon Journal LOADED: 04.27.2018 Mariners infielders Robinson Cano, Kyle Seager still feasting on pitches at Progressive Field By Joe Noga CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Nobody on the Seattle Mariners' roster is more excited about a four-game trip to Progressive Field than teammates Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager. Cano collected two hits and an RBI while Seager had three hits and an RBI in Thursday's 5-4 win against the host Cleveland Indians. Cano's numbers when he faces the Indians in Cleveland are impressive. In 40 career appearances at Progressive Field, the 35-year-old Dominican is hitting .310 and slugging .559 with an OPS of .921. He has seven home runs, 19 doubles and 24 RBI. Seager himself is no slouch when it comes to hitting at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario. Thursday he collected his third three-hit game of the season, driving in the go-ahead run with an RBI double in the eighth inning. In 23 career games at Progressive Field, Seager is hitting .378 (34-for-90) with five homers, 10 doubles, 16 runs scored and 13 RBI. In four games as a rookie in 2011, he hit .706 with five doubles, a home run and three RBIs. But don't try to convince Seager that hitting at Progressive Field is a treat. "I don't know that anybody loves coming here because of (the Indians) good pitching staff year after year," he said. "I think my numbers my rookie season kind of skewed things for me." Cano's lifetime .335 average against the Indians is second only to Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus (.372) among active MLB players. This season he is hitting .571 (8-for-14) with three doubles, four runs scored and two RBI in four games. And at least one of those doubles is wrapped in a question mark, if you ask Cano. #Mariners @ #Indians Robinson Cano lines a home run in the 5th inning, but after an umpire review, the call is overturned for a double (00:57) MLB Gameday: https://t.co/DVHHnMHKAc pic.twitter.com/UgoHKSmBS3 -- Ballpark Videos (@BallparkVids) April 27, 2018 His fifth inning double Thursday was initially ruled a home run, but the call was overturned after a review by umpiring crew chief Mark Wegner. According to replay officials in New York, the definitive camera angle was a left field shot that was not available to either team's broadcast. "We didn't know, so I just asked them to check," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "There's no harm in checking and we really couldn't tell." Mariners manager Scott Servais said the club's replay staff disagreed with the decision. "Obviously, it's a boundary call that they saw in New York," Servais said. "Our (video) guy saw it differently." Francona credited lefty reliever Jeff Beliveau, who was added to the club Thursday afternoon when Andrew Miller went on the disabled list, for striking Cano out on four pitches with one out in the eighth inning. "He got a really good hitter out," Francona said of Beliveau. "He didn't shy away and he went after him." Cleveland Plain Dealer LOADED: 04.27.2018 Cleveland Indians' comeback falls short in 5-4 loss to Seattle Mariners CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Mariners operated with cool efficiency in the early going Thursday evening at Progressive Field. The Indians returned the favor in the late innings. But the Mariners were a little more efficient when it counted as they beat the Indians, 5-4, on consecutive doubles by Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager in the eighth inning. Lefty James Paxton struck out 10 in six innings for Seattle, but his problems with Yonder Alonso continued. In the second game of the season, way back on March 31, Alonso hit a grand slam off Paxton as the Indians beat Seattle, 6-5. On Thursday night, Paxton was cruising with a 4-0 lead when Alonso hurt him again with a two-out, two-run homer in the sixth to make it 4-2. Alonso has 15 RBI this season, six have come at Paxton's expense. The Indians tied it with two runs in the seventh. Jason Kipnis doubled home Francisco Lindor and Edwin Encarnacion scored Kipnis with a two- out single. Lindor started the rally when Nick Vincent hit him with a pitch with one out. He stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a double to the center field wall by Kipnis off former Indians lefty, Marc Rzepczynski. Kipnis took third on a wild pitch and scored on Encarnacion's single. "That was a nice swing off of Zep," said manager Terry Francona, referring to Kipnis' double. "Zep is tough on lefties and Kip had a good at-bat and drove that ball to center field. That's got to be good for him." Dan Otero and newcomer Jeff Beliveau started the eighth with two quick outs. Nick Goody relieved and allowed consecutive doubles to Cruz and Seager to give Seattle the lead and the game. "It's part of baseball," said Goody. "Once 12 o'clock hits it's a new day. You turn the page, the quicker the better. "The pitch to Cruz was down and he went and got it. The pitch too Seager wasn't bad, he just got it. Those guys are getting paid, too. As much as I don't like saying that, it's part of baseball. That's why they're here. . .they're good." Starter Mike Clevinger retired seven straight to start the game, but then allowed four runs in rapid succession. Clevinger had two out in the third when Ryon Healy, just off the disabled list, singled. The next three batters - Dee Gordon, Jean Segura and Robinson Cano - hit safely as well to give the Mariners a 3-0 lead. It happened so fast that the outburst barely drew a reaction from the crowd on another cold night at the ballpark. Gordon tripled home Healy. Segura doubled home Gordon and Cano singled home Segura. "They were swinging early in the count," said Clevinger. "It seemed like they did that the whole game. Whatever looked like a fastball they were swinging at it." Seattle made it 4-0 in the fourth. Seager, who entered the series as a lifetime .360 (31-for-86) hitter at Progressive Field, hit a leadoff single. He moved to second on a grounder to third and scored when Mike Zunino blooped a single into right field. Clevinger gave the Indians two more innings before Francona went to the bullpen. "I felt like I had good stuff," said Clevinger. "I was missing my location a little more than usual, but it happens to everybody. I felt like I had it the whole way. Dee Gordon's triple carried a lot farther than I expected it to. I just maintained my focus and got back to it." Francona liked the way Clevinger rebounded after the third. "We had our bullpen up in the fourth and he ended up pitching effectively for a couple of more innings," said Francona. The Mariners lost a run in the fifth when a home run by Cano was ruled a double after a review ordered by crew chief Mark Wegner. Cano's two-out drive to the wall in left center field was originally called a home run by Wegner. After Francona talked to the umpires, they called for a review. The original call was over turned and Cano was stranded at second. The review took 1 minute and 16 seconds. "We didn't know," said Francona. "So I just asked them to check. There's no harm in checking." Clevinger, in his first appearance against the Mariners, allowed four runs on six hits in six innings. Paxton struck out 10 and allowed two runs in six innings. Goody (0-1) took the loss, while Dan Altavilla (2-2) was credited with the win. Edwin Diaz converted his 11th save in as many opportunities to secure the win for the Mariners. What it means Home runs have accounted for 19 of the Indians' last 32 runs (59 percent). The pitches Clevinger threw 88 pitches, 59 (67 percent) for strikes. Paxton threw 100 pitches, 70 (70 percent) for strikes. Thanks for coming The Mariners and Indians drew 12,133 to Progressive Field on Thursday night. First pitch was at 6:10 p.m. with a temperature of 48 degrees. Next Right-hander Corey Kluber (3-1, 1.96) will face the Mariners and right-hander Erasmo Ramirez (0-1, 9.64) on Friday at 7:10 p.m. SportsTime Ohio and WMMS/FM 100.7 will carry the game. Kluber pitched the season opener against Mariners on March 29. He threw a complete game, but lost 2-1. Nelson Cruz's two-run homer in the first inning was the difference. He's 3-2 with a 1.68 ERA in five starts against Seattle. Ramirez will be making his second start of the season. He opened the year on the disabled list a strained lat muscle. He is 1-2 with a 3.51 ERA in seven appearances against the Indians. Cleveland Plain Dealer LOADED: 04.27.2018 As temperature rises, Jose Ramirez's bat heats up and 4 other things we learned about the Cleveland Indians By Joe Noga CLEVELAND, Ohio -- After a frigid start to the season, both the temperature and Jose Ramirez's bat have started to heat up. Ramirez entered Thursday's game against Seattle having hit in 12 of his previous 13 games, and batting .400 (20-for-50) in that span with a team-high six home runs, nine runs scored, two doubles and eight RBI. He's added more than 200 points to his batting average since April 9, after opening the season hitting .061 with one home run in 33 at-bats. Ramirez currently ranks seventh among American League position players in wins above replacement (1.6) according to BaseballReference.com, and is tied with Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons as the hardest batter in the A.L. to whiff at 13.9 plate appearances per strikeout. Before striking out in his first at-bat Thursday, Ramirez had whiffed just seven times in 83 at-bats. Manager Terry Francona recently credited Ramirez for his ability to make adjustments in the middle of at-bats with two strikes, and being willing to take with opposing pitchers are willing to give him. "Maybe its because I'm older, but I like it," Francona said. "Hitting the ball the other way. I really do like that." 1. Homer happy is ok, so far Most of Cleveland's offense Wednesday in a 4-1 win against the Cubs came courtesy of three solo home runs against Chicago lefty Jon Lester. The Indians entered play Thursday with 28 home runs, tied for fifth in the A.L. and tied for eighth in the majors overall. "Anybody who tells you solo homers can't beat you is full of it," Lester told the Associated Press after the game. Ramirez leads the club with seven homers followed by Yonder Alonso and Edwin Encarnacion with five each. Prior to Thursday, home runs were responsible for 17 of the Tribe's last 28 runs (60.7 percent). 2. Jason Kipnis coming around? Francona said second baseman Jason Kipnis is getting closer to breaking out of an early-season slump, despite a scarcity of hits lately. Kipnis entered Thursday's game hitting .159 and mired in an 0-for-11 slump before collecting a soft line drive single to center in his second at- bat against Seattle starter James Paxton. He followed that with an RBI double in the bottom of the seventh inning off Mariners reliever Mark Rzepczynski. "Sometimes you need a break to kind of get going," Francona said. "You can tell guys all you want, 'Hey, good swing,' but they want to see some results. Until you do, I think human nature is that you press a little bit. But I just think as long as he stays healthy, he'll get hot. He's too good not to." 3. Sound check Kipnis, Mike Clevinger and Yan Gomes were among the Indians that honored the late musician Avicii with their warmup/walkup music selections Thursday. Kipnis and Clevinger shared their thoughts via social media last week upon learning of the Sweedish DJ's passing. Clevinger warmed up to Avicii's breakthrough hit "Levels" prior to the game's first pitch. Great team W with the pitching from "good guy" TB followed by some power[?] [?] [?] Come sing along and remember Avicii tomorrow night at Progressive Field starting at 6:10 [?] -- [?] Mike Clevinger [?] (@Mike_Anthony13) April 26, 2018 Kipnis honored Avicii by walking up to the artist's "Pure Grinding" in the bottom of the first inning. Don't worry! That saxy music ain't goin anywhere! Need to mix it up tomorrow tho for Avicii! #hitsarecoming https://t.co/veb9W4ruPY -- Jason Kipnis (@TheJK_Kid) April 26, 2018 Gomes walked up to Avicii's "Waiting for Love" in the second inning. 4. Pretty good at home The Indians entered play Thursday with a 7-3 home record, including wins in 24 of their past 29 regular season games at Progressive Field. Since the 2017 All-Star Break, Cleveland leads the majors with a 35-11 home record, predicated mostly on dominant pitching. The Indians lead the A.L. with a .202 opponent batting average at home, and a 2.70 home earned run average. Indians starting pitchers entered Thursday's series opener against Seattle with a 2.37 ERA at home in 64 2/3 innings. Cleveland Plain Dealer LOADED: 04.27.2018 Cleveland Indians place Andrew Miller on 10-day disabled list, add Jeff Beliveau from Columbus By Joe Noga CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Andrew Miller is headed to the 10-day disabled list after injuring his left hamstring in Wednesday's 4-1 win against the Chicago Cubs at Progressive Field. The club selected the contract of lefty Jeff Beliveau from Class AAA Columbus to take Miller's spot on the 25-man roster. Beliveau will wear No. 38. In order to make room for Beliveau on the 40-man roster, the Indians designated left-hander Jack Leathersich for assignment. Miller threw two pitches in the seventh inning against Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo before removing himself from the game. Afterward, manager Terry Francona expressed optimism that the injury was similar to one Miller had suffered in 2014 with Baltimore that only cost him five days of rest. He underwent an MRI test Thursday before the Indians decided to place him on the 10-day DL with what is now being called a left hamstring strain. "We lean on him so hard," Francona said. "Then there's the temptation to bring him back early. As hard as it is not to have him, the 10 days makes sense. And it makes sense to him. Even though he doesn't want to go on the DL. It's the right think to do." Miller made two trips to the disabled list in 2017 with patella tendonitis in his right knee. He missed 14 games from Aug. 2-17 before returning midway through the month. He went back on the DL five days later and missed an additional 23 games from Aug. 22-Sept. 13. In 10 regular-season appearances from Sept. 14-Oct. 1, Miller did not allow a run in 9 1/3 innings with 19 strikeouts. Beliveau, 31, has spent the month of April in Columbus, pitching 8 2/3 scoreless innings and holding opponents to a .071 average. He's collected 14 strikeouts and has not allowed a hit to a left-handed batter. Francona said Beliveau has made adjustments to his curveball while in Columbus, and that his success is not a surprised based on the way he pitched earlier in his career. "He's really been pitching well," Francona said. "And the hope is kind of like (Tyler) Olson last year, you get an opportunity and you jump on and take advantage of it and he helps us win." Beliveau signed with the Indians in November, 2017 and was a non-roster invitee to spring training. He appeared in 10 games for Cleveland in 2018 Cactus League play, posting a 4.15 ERA (4ER/8.2IP) with 11 strikeouts. In 77 career big-league appearances with the Cubs and Tampa Bay, Beliveau is 2-1 with a 4.90 earned run average and 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Cleveland Plain Dealer LOADED: 04.27.2018 Cleveland Indians' Tyler Olson learns valuable lesson in heat of the moment against the Cubs By Paul Hoynes CLEVELAND, Ohio - Tyler Olson doesn't have 10 years in the big leagues. He doesn't have a year, to be honest. But he's been around. This is his sixth year as someone who gets paid to throw a baseball. He's pitched in 129 minor-league games and 54 games in the big leagues. But what happened to him Wednesday night at Progressive Field was a first for him. The Indians had a 3-1 lead in the seventh inning. Javier Baez had just beaten out an infield hit despite a diving stop and strong throw by shortstop Francisco Lindor. As Baez crossed the bag he shook his finger at Lindor, his teammate from Puerto Rico's 2017 WBC team, as if to say, "You can't catch me." It was a good moment in a close game, but the humor quickly vanished from the Indians' perspective. Lefty Andrew Miller, who relieved Trevor Bauer after Baez's single, threw two balls to Anthony Rizzo and left the game with a tight left hamstring. Olson, the Indians' second left-handed reliever, was called on to face Rizzo. "I've never done that before," said Olson. Exactly what was Olson talking about? That he'd never relieved an injured teammate and have to warm up on the game mound with the whole ballpark watching? Or he'd never come into a game and inherit a 2-0 count against one of MLB's most dangerous hitters? Both was Olson's answer. Indians homer their way past the Cubs: 4/25/18 Olson could have taken as long as he wanted to warm up, but his heart rate was up and he wanted to get things going. "I probably should have taken a little longer. . .definitely," he said. "That was my first time ever doing it. I definitely learned from it. I need to take my time and go when I'm ready." Plate umpire Lance Barksdale made sure Olson knew he had as much time as needed to warm up. "I knew I had more time. I was pretty amped up," said Olson. "I thought I was ready. Luckily I was able to get through it. " Olson's first pitch to Rizzo was a ball to run the count to 3-0. He came back with a strike on a 87 mph fastball and retired Rizzo on a fly ball to center field to end the inning. He came out for the eighth and gave up a leadoff double to Wilson Contreras, a right-handed hitter. He retired pinch-hitter Victor Caratini, a switch-hitter, to bring Kyle Schwarber to the plate for a left-on-left meeting. In Tuesday's 10-3 win by the Cubs, Schwarber homered twice. Schwarber, one of those nightmare hitters for the Indians, started the game hitting .571 (8-for-14) with three homers and eight RBI at Progressive Field. "I knew I needed to get my lefty," said Olson. Olson's first two pitches to Schwarber were balls. His next two were strikes. Schwarber fouled off the next two pitches before Olson struck him out on an 87 mph sinker. "It was a big out," said Olson. "We needed it. That was a huge out." Tyler Olson on the 2018 Season Nick Goody relieved and struck out Addison Russell to end the eighth. Cody Allen finished the game with three straight outs in the ninth for the save. Olson and Goody were teammates in 2016 for the Yankees' Class AAA team in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. In spring training this year, they played catch every morning until Goody said enough. "He throws from five different arm angles," said Goody with a laugh. "You never know what you're going to get. I was miserable. It put me in a bad mood every morning. "He's just nasty. He says, 'Hey, this is coming.' It's like from what arm angle? You have to guess. It's brutal." So if a guy playing catch with Olson feels that way, think about someone trying to hit those same pitches? Remember, Olson didn't allow a run last year in 30 appearances for the Indians. "He knows who he is as a pitcher," said Goody. "He's not Andrew Miller. He's Tyler Olson. He's a wild card. It's really good to watch who he's becoming, which is a really good pitcher. He's punching everybody out." Trevor Bauer pitched 6 2/3 innings for the win on Wednesday. He has spent time in the bullpen and was impressed with Olson's performance from a physical and mental standpoint. "It's never good to see Andrew go out," said Bauer. "I think that's a really underrated job by Olson. I don't think the casual fan understands how difficult that it." When the Indians are leading by four or fewer runs late in a game, manager Terry Francona's last two relievers are almost always going to be Miller and Allen - Miller for the hold, Allen for the save. Fans know that and so does every player on the club. "You put Andrew in and then you put Cody in," said Bauer. "That's how it goes. Everyone down there (in the bullpen) is going to watch. Then all of a sudden two pitches later you go from thinking the night is over to, 'OK I've got to get ready' ... so tremendous job by Olson to figure that out. I think he said that was the first time he's done that." There's no time like the first time. More importantly for Olson, it was a lesson learned. Cleveland Plain Dealer LOADED: 04.27.2018 Mariners finally throw their true lineup on field, and it’s a 5-4 winner at Cleveland By Ryan Divish CLEVELAND — For the first time in the 2018 season, the Mariners rolled out all nine of their position players in the projected everyday lineup. Because of injuries — oh so many injuries, starting in early spring — they had to wait till game No. 24 of their season to see what it might be really like. The early reviews were positive in a 5-4 win over the Indians on Thursday at a chilly Progressive Field. “It was good to have everyone back tonight,” manager Scott Servais said. “Everybody chipped in.” Every one of those five runs was needed to pick up their third straight win and improve to 14-10 on the season. Seattle also improved to 6-2 in one-run games this season. To be fair, they felt it should have been a two-run win. The Mariners lost an expected run when replay overturned what appeared to be a solo homer for Robinson Cano in the fifth inning and a potential 5-0 lead. Meanwhile, the middle relievers from a bullpen that had been so dominant in the previous two games in Chicago coughed up a two-run lead in the seventh inning. “That took a big run off the board,” Servais said of the overturned homer. “It took five to win tonight and we just had to find a different way to get the fifth run.” They found it in Kyle Seager, who had three hits and delivered in a place where he’s had plenty of prior success. Nelson Cruz doubled off right- hander Nick Goody to start the eighth inning. Seager then stayed on a fastball away from Goody, driving a double high off the wall in left-center field. It easily scored pinch-runner Ichiro with the go-ahead run, to break the 4-4 tie. Seager is now hitting .378 (34 for 90) with five homers, 10 doubles and 13 RBI in 23 games at Progressive Field. Seager has worked hard to revamp his swing to be more capable of driving balls like that to left-center instead of trying to pull everything to right field. The double was a sign of progress. “That hurt my feelings a little bit,” he said. “That’s probably my best bolt and it still didn’t get out. No, it felt good. That’s as clean of a swing I put in that direction. That’s the kind of the whole goal of the swing changes and working on all the different stuff — that’s the outcome I’m looking for.” Relievers Juan Nicasio and Edwin Diaz made the one-run lead hold up. Nicasio delivered a 1-2-3 eighth inning, while Diaz worked around a one-out walk to Francisco Lindor to pick up his MLB-leading 11th save of the season. “We are leaning heavily on Juan Nicasio and Eddie Diaz,” Servais said. “We are going to need to win a few by three or four runs here so we aren’t running those guys out there every night.” The new lineup provided starter James Paxton some early run support and looked like it might put up some big numbers against Cleveland starter Mike Clevinger, who came into the game with 1.75 ERA in four starts. In his first at-bat off the disabled list, Ryon Healy produced a two-out single up the middle in the third inning. He scored moments later on Dee Gordon’s triple to left-center. Jean Segura followed with a double into the left-field corner to make it 2-0. Cano capped off the inning with a line- drive single to left that scored Segura. The Mariners added to the lead an inning later as Mike Zunino made it 4-0. It seemed like it would be 5-0 in the fifth inning when Cano hit a line drive that appeared to hit off the top of the wall in left field, striking something behind the wall and bouncing back into play. It was ruled a homer on the field. Umpire crew chief Mark Wegner asked for a replay review since it dealt with the boundaries of the field. MLB replay in New York overruled the call on the field despite no obvious evidence shown on various replays. “I didn’t check the replay,” Cano said. “They made a call, and there’s nothing I can do. But I’m going to check it and see.” Paxton gave the Mariners another solid outing, but he still hasn’t worked seven complete innings this season — a simple barrier that he expects to break through soon. “I want to be the guy that goes seven, eight, nine innings,” he said. “I took a step toward getting my pitch count down tonight.” Paxton pitched six innings, giving up two runs on five hits with three walks and 10 strikeouts. While he detested the three walks, it was one of the strikes in his final pitches that he wanted back. Paxton had worked the first 5 2/3 innings without allowing a run. But in a protracted at-bat with former teammate Yonder Alonso, Paxton left a 98 mph fastball — his fifth thrown in a row — over the middle of the plate. It was the ninth pitch of the at-bat and it was crushed over the wall in right field for a two-run homer. “I was trying to go up and away and leaked middle,” he said. “I threw too many fastballs in a row.” Seattle Times LOADED: 04.27.2018 Mariners option Daniel Vogelbach, activate Ryon Healy, but 'Vogey' learned he fits into Seattle's plans BY TJ COTTERILL Scott Servais thought to when he first noticed Daniel Vogelbach begin to change. He recalled spring of 2017, when Vogelbach abruptly learned that he would not start the season as the Seattle Mariners' first baseman. Not only that, but Vogelbach wouldn’t platoon either. The Mariners sent him to Triple-A Tacoma. Vogelbach did not approve. “Vogey was very upset,” Servais said recently. “He was vocal about it with both me and the general manager. And that’s fine. But when you’re vocal you’re going to get some feedback, which he certainly did.” Help us deliver journalism that makes a difference in our community. Our journalism takes a lot of time, effort, and hard work to produce. If you read and enjoy our journalism, please consider subscribing today. Then Vogelbach became a Triple-A All-Star and was a late addition to the Triple-A Home Run Derby. The Mariners called him up in September and he spent this offseason fine-tuning his mechanics to draw more power. Vogelbach gets on base. But what about his defense? And could he hit for better power? And, for Servais, could Vogelbach loosen up? He seemed to figure some of that out, which is why he was on the Mariners’ Opening Day roster after a big spring. Vogelbach re-packed his bags for Triple-A on Wednesday night, with Ryon Healy activated from the disabled list, but Vogelbach headed there in a much greater standing on the organization's depth chart than this time last year. “When he went to Tacoma there needed to be some tougher conversations of what needed to get better,” Servais said. “He took it the right way. I think the biggest thing is his attitude. We’re starting to see the personality we had always heard about. "We saw it last year in September. We saw it in this spring training. He’s the guy you want to root for. The happy-go-lucky guy. It’s Babe Ruth. Joke about it or whatever – he’s always got a smile on his face.” Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto said on one of his recent podcasts that he sees more of a resemblance to late actor Chris Farley. Vogelbach dressed up as the “Saturday Night Live” Chippendales character of Chris Farley as a rookie in 2016 as part of a team-building exercise. Then Vogelbach hit a home run over the Hit It Here Café above the third deck in right field at Safeco Field in a 10-8 win over the Oakland Athletics on April 15. Dipoto’s reaction? “In ‘Tommy Boy,’ the scene in which the deer busts out of the car and Chris Farley turns around to Richard and says, ‘That was awesome!’ … That was my reaction to the Vogel-bomb,” Dipoto said. The Mariners simply couldn’t ignore his torrid spring. He compiled a .407 batting average and 1.455 OPS (on-base plus slugging), even if his skillset didn’t necessarily bode well for regular playing time in their projected lineup. But then Nelson Cruz sprained his ankle on a dugout step, meaning Vogelbach could DH. And before Cruz returned, Healy then sprained his ankle in a postgame workout, meaning Vogelbach would stick around a while longer and play some first base. That’s where Vogelbach has to improve, so he doesn’t have to rely on crushing baseballs on offense (He hit .204, 11-for-54, with two home runs). The Mariners typically trusted utility players Taylor Motter and Andrew Romine in late-game situations defensively over Vogelbach. “He learned a lot, and sometimes, more importantly, you earn the trust of the guys you are playing with,” Servais said. “Everyone loved Vogey’s personality. He’s funny and he has a lot of energy and he keeps the dugout light and loose. But ultimately teammates are looking at, ‘Can this guy help us win?’ And I think they saw signs of Vogey really being able to help us going forward.” Servais held his exit meeting with Vogelbach on Wednesday and said it was entirely positive. “The biggest thing for me on Vogey, I thought he improved a lot defensively,” Servais said. “We still have some things to work on there, but he will factor into things for us at some point for us, no doubt. “Range is never going to be Vogey’s thing at first. But catch the balls he’s supposed to catch. He has to get more aggressive going after pop- ups and feeling good about that. … Do I ever look to see Vogey winning a Gold Glove? Probably not. But can he be an adequate defender at first base? He certainly showed signs that he can do that.” The Mariners have a place for Vogelbach if he can combine that with the offensive production he’s showed in the minors, with a career .287 batting average and .390 on-base percentage. His move to Triple-A was simply inevitable. The Mariners committed to Healy when they acquired him from the Athletics and they’ve committed to an eight-man bullpen, which doesn’t leave room on the 25-man roster for a backup first baseman/DH. “I thought the run Daniel Vogelbach had for us, I think Vogey has certainly showed some things and how he fits into our plans going forward,” Servais said. “Really had an outstanding spring training and carried it into a pretty good start into the season. Had some better games than others. “I asked him what he learned and one of the comments he made was he has to continue to learn to use the whole field to hit. He absolutely murdered the home run at our place at Safeco, but understanding that on certain pitches you can do that but you have to stay consistent using the whole field.” No more injuries? The Mariners for the first time this season used the lineup they had projected all offseason they would have. With Healy, Cruz, Mike Zunino and Ben Gamel all healthy, they all started together for the first time on Thursday in Cleveland. But then Guillermo Heredia was hit by a pitch Wednesday night with Triple-A Tacoma. Except Heredia is only expected to miss a few days, said Rainiers radio broadcaster Mike Curto. Heredia is with Triple-A Tacoma after the Mariners optioned him last week, though they’ve been adamant his stay in Tacoma would be short while they figure out whether he returns to Seattle or Ichiro Suzuki is a more permanent fixture on the roster. Or if they decide add 38-year-old Jayson Werth, a former All-Star with the Washington Nationals who made his Triple-A debut on Wednesday, going 0-for-3 with a walk. Servais also provided an update on right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma’s recovery from offseason shoulder surgery, saying he is expected to toss a simulated game against live batters on Friday before he potentially begins a rehab assignment. On tap How different will right-hander Erasmo Ramirez (0-1, 9.64 ERA) be compared to his first start? If he doesn’t improve, expect a long day for the Mariners against right-hander and reigning American League Cy Young winner Corey Kluber (3-1, 1.96 ERA). Stark: It’s time to shorten the MLB schedule. Here’s how it could work By Jayson Stark 1h ago 21 Anthony Rizzo had it right. More right than he even realized.

Is it time to shorten the baseball season? It’s absolutely time.

Would it be better for everyone – players, owners, fans, popcorn vendors, schedule makers, sunscreen sales reps – if baseball seasons lasted 154 games instead of 162? Heck yeah, it would.

Would the world be a better place if Opening Day didn’t arrive in March, if the World Series ended before November and if just about every Monday in the season was a day off? Can you say, “Kumbaya?” So logic will prevail, right? This will definitely be happening, right? It’s way too logical not to, right?

Not so fast.

At the moment, in case you hadn’t caught wind of this, MLB and the players’ union would have a tough time agreeing on which Starbucks to meet at for coffee, let alone a dramatic schedule change. We regret to announce it’s going to take more than logic, and more than Anthony Rizzo, to shrink the schedule any time soon.

But when the time arrives to negotiate the next labor deal in 2021, this will be a serious topic. Because it should be.

“It’s pretty simple,” says one longtime baseball official. “We play too many games. Mark that as ‘settled.’”

But by “settled,” he doesn’t mean “done,” obviously. He just means there is far more agreement on this general concept than you’d think. And because there is, there has been way more conversation about this idea, going back almost a decade, than you might think.

So where has that conversation gone – and where is it likely to go from here? Let’s try to answer those questions.

HOW MANY GAMES? In a simpler world, with no TV deals and no bills to pay, it would be easy to argue baseball would be better off playing 120 games or 140 games. But we don’t live in that world. This sport is not lopping 22 to 42 games (or anything close) off its calendar any time soon.

Instead, the focus has been on two numbers which the commissioner, Rob Manfred, mentioned last week in an interview with the Associated Press – 154 games and 158. You can bet that both of those numbers will be in play when baseball gets around to revisiting this idea.

The 158-game concept actually made it (briefly) to the bargaining table in the negotiations leading up to the 2011 labor agreement, sources say. But it quickly got pushed right off that table by the bigger scheduling question of that day – the shift to two 15-team leagues and all the ramifications that came with it.

Five years later, however, MLB actually did extensive background research on the pros and cons of a 154-game schedule, several sources tell The Athletic. Presumably, the owners did all that work because they expected players to push for that change.

Well, surprise: It never came up. The union got focused on other issues and never proposed it. But even if it had, a group of large-market teams raised such vociferous objections that there might never have been a deal to be made.

Nevertheless, here’s something you should know: If you polled the 30 teams, a big majority would be all in – even now. The challenge is getting that vocal minority to buy in.

“Basically, eight teams wouldn’t do it,” says one source who was in on those 2016 discussions. “They said, ‘We can’t make up all those lost gates or all the TV revenue. So you need to make us whole.’”

No one would identify all eight of those teams. But an educated guess would be this group: Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, Cubs, Giants, Cardinals, Angels and Mets. Big attendance. Big regional TV deals. Major money on the line.

Twenty-two teams had minimal or even no objections. If you’ve noticed all the empty seats at many ballparks around America this April, it wouldn’t be that difficult to understand why.

“On some of those Monday games,” says one executive, “for some of these teams, it costs as much to open the gates as they make to play the game.”

So you wouldn’t have to twist many arms to get those teams to give up those games. It’s all about getting the holdouts on board. We’ll get to them shortly. But first …

WHERE DO THE PLAYERS STAND? Shoveled any snow lately? Brian Dozier has.

“One day [a mere week and a half ago], we got close to 20 inches in Minnesota,” the Twins second baseman reports. “We literally couldn’t open the doors to my house. It was halfway up the door. So we had to get to the garage and open the garage. And it was literally the first time I ever shoveled snow, being a Southern guy. My wife filmed me doing that.”

But if he was shoveling snow, one thing he obviously wasn’t doing was playing baseball. That’s because it feels like the Twins almost never play baseball. Due mostly to meteorological nightmares beyond their control, they’ve only played 18 games – and six home games – in four weeks. You think they’re opposed to figuring out some different way to draw up this schedule?

“I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining,” says first baseman/DH Logan Morrison. “But there has to be a better, smarter way to go about this, because playing baseball in 20 degrees is not smart, healthy or fun. That’s what it boils down to. No fan wants to come watch us play in 25- degree weather.” If you asked players if they could be magically transported to a planet where the sun would shine, the wind-chill factor was never a topic and there were regular off days that would allow them to rest up, recover and recognize those fellow family members who live in their household, who among them wouldn’t sign up for that?

“Sure, it’s attractive,” says Twins reliever Zack Duke. “But I feel like (if players proposed that) the first thing that would happen is them saying, ‘You’re playing less games, so we’re not going to pay you as much.’ And obviously, that would be an issue.”

Yes, in pretty much any job in America, you can guess the reaction if the boss were to announce: “Guess what, everybody? We’d like to pay you less money.” Baseball is no different. But there are ways to accomplish this without docking money from every paycheck.

As Rizzo himself said when he broached this subject on ESPN 1000 radio in Chicago, existing guaranteed contracts could be “grandfathered” while future contracts would factor in shorter seasons. Or, according to executives we’ve surveyed, there are other ways the players could, in Manfred’s words, be “participants in the process” – with adjustments to, say, future minimum salaries, arbitration or other, indirect benefits.

In fact, people involved in past labor talks believe it’s highly unlikely MLB would start the conversation by saying: “Give us back that money!” That dialogue would be more like: “Do we agree this would be good for the game? Then let’s figure out ways to share the burden.”

And do players agree this could be good for the game? Listen again to Anthony Rizzo.

“I think we play too much baseball,” he said. “Yes, guys are going to take pay cuts. But are we playing this game for the money or do we love this game? I know it’s both, but in the long run, it will make everything better.”

Well, not everything. It can’t fix the weather in years where it’s this historically horrendous. But playing fewer games has so many potential benefits, it’s almost incredible that this sport has ignored exploring them for so long. How about these, for instance:

—A better, more flexible schedule with less insane travel, more off days and less interleague play. — Less reason to start the season in March. —More hope of finishing the postseason before Halloween. — A different postseason format. — Pitcher health. — Fewer injuries overall – in an industry that pays players half a billion dollars a year to hang out on the disabled list. “We sometimes forget the players actually are our game,” says former Rockies GM – and current MLB Network analyst – Dan O’Dowd. “And anything we can do to help them be better players, we should look at doing.”

So what exactly should they look at doing? He has some thoughts….

HOW COULD THIS WORK? How could baseball utilize a less-is-more schedule to accomplish those aims? O’Dowd has been a proponent of the 154-game plan for years. Take a look at his proposal and see what you think:

— A 154-game schedule. — Every Monday off, starting with the third week of April. His thinking here is that players need a few weeks of consistent baseball to get into the rhythm of the game. Then, once the no-Mondays plan kicks in, he believes players would benefit most from a “predictable” day off.

— Day games on Sundays, night games on Tuesdays. The idea would be to provide players as long a gap between games as possible, to give them “a legitimate break from the grind of the season.”

— More early-season games in warm weather and domes. O’Dowd is well aware that teams would complain about being loaded up with April home games. There would be financial compensation from MLB to make it worth their while.

— Early-season international round robins. Here’s another potential idea for avoiding those April snowouts. He envisions a four-team or six- team round robin in locations with good weather or domes, with a “guaranteed money return” to make up for lost home dates.

— Adding traditional doubleheaders once the weather warms up. O’Dowd also is a longtime fan of an idea he calls “Doubleheader Day in America.” Every team in baseball would play a doubleheader that day. MLB could sell the concept to a national sponsor. (Double Mint Gum, anyone?) And it would create even more off days and more flexibility to construct a better, more manageable schedule.

—A longer all-star break. This wouldn’t necessarily be every year. But he envisions scheduling the WBC as a weeklong, one-and-done tournament over the all-star break every three or four years, at a time of year when there would be no other sport competition on TV. I’d watch!

— Use Mondays to sell the game in other ways. With no games on Monday, O’Dowd would take those Mondays and use them to highlight baseball in other forms: Turn the draft into a big national Monday night event….Find ways to showcase minor-league baseball and college baseball….Maybe a showcase for marquee high school prospects….Or cook up other types of creative, non-game programming that might appeal to a different demographic. Then baseball would sell that package nationally and use the proceeds to help teams make up for lost TV dates. Just to be clear, he would exempt ESPN Sunday night games, other national TV games and holidays from this format. So there would be flexibility where it’s needed. But don’t consider the complications. Consider the benefits.

“We currently have 24 days off, including the four games over the all-star break, so this would provide an additional eight days – or 32 total,” O’Dowd says. “I have no doubt the quality of play would increase and the repetitive injury risk of our sport would decrease.”

For what it’s worth, baseball has seen studies that support that theory, which suggests a significant cut in the injury rate is a real possibility. But beyond what this could accomplish in reducing injuries, “getting away from the game mentally is just as important as getting away from it physically,” O’Dowd says. “I forgot to mention these guys are husbands, fathers, brothers and sons. This adds to the small windows of opportunity to have a balanced life.”

He recognizes that his plan isn’t perfect. And ideas like this don’t solve every problem. In fact, the ripple effects might actually create a new problem or two. But is there any reason baseball isn’t thinking long and hard about these sorts of concepts? We can only think of one….

MAKING UP THE DOLLARS What’s the only obstacle to making this happen? Take a wild guess.

It isn’t the integrity of the record book. It’s what it always comes down to.

The dollar signs.

It’s about those eight teams – the ones that don’t want to give up a single home date, let alone four a year – and how this sport can find a way to compensate them for the money that wouldn’t flow into their accounts if games start disappearing off the schedule.

So how much money are we talking about?

Let’s look at the Yankees, since they led the AL in attendance last year.

Start with this – money paid out by the average family of four in a trip to Yankee Stadium: About $301. That figure comes from Team Marketing Report’s Fan Cost Index. It includes tickets, parking, refreshments and a trip to the souvenir stand. Now let’s apply the Shorter Schedule Math.

If you cut the schedule to 154 games, that’s four lost home dates. Now multiply that by the Yankees’ average attendance last year (39,385 per game). It comes to over $12 million – just in lost stadium revenue.

Would they miss that $12 million? Who wouldn’t? But that’s assuming they would actually lose it – because you know how easy it would be for them to make up that money? Here’s how easy:

They’re losing 5 percent of their home dates, right? Now let’s apply more Shorter Schedule Math.

TICKET MATH: The average price of a ticket to a Yankees game, according to the Fan Cost Index? That would be $47.62. So how much would they have to raise the average ticket price to make up every penny of that 5 percent lost ticket revenue? How about a whopping $2.38.

HOT DOG MATH: Let’s say a Yankee Stadium hot dog costs $5. So how could they make up every dime in lost hot-dog revenue? By hiking the price of a hot dog by a staggering 25 cents.

We could keep going here, but you get the idea.

The bigger challenge, clearly, is TV money. Most teams guarantee their local cable sports network between 140-145 games a year, with the assumption that teams like the Yankees would lose the rest to national TV. But cutting eight games off the schedule could make it impossible for them to air enough local TV games to live up to their contract. And that’s a problem with no easy solution.

But how hard has baseball even tried to find that solution? It hasn’t.

“It’s never been a negotiation,” says one of the officials quoted earlier. “It’s never gotten that far.”

So how about, one of these years, it does get that far? Is there an answer? Of course there’s an answer. Once upon a time, we heard that teams like the Yankees and Dodgers would never agree to revenue sharing, either. How’d that work out?

Lots of issues – in life and baseball – seem impossible to solve until you look seriously for ways to make them possible. It’s time for this sport to start searching for ways to make a better, saner, shorter schedule possible.

It’s too late to save Brian Dozier from shoveling snow on game day. But it’s not too late to fix the schedule. Just ask Anthony Rizzo.

Stark: The Useless Info Dept., Swing and a Foul Edition By Jayson Stark 46m ago 1 What. A. Week. The best offense in baseball forgot to get a hit. Bartolo Colon outraced the world’s fastest human (almost). And one at-bat in Anaheim nearly lasted longer than the Anglo-Zanzibar War. So join us now as the Useless Info Department recaps the highlights!

THE 21-PITCH ROAD TO HISTORY Imagine what you could do in 12 minutes and 45 seconds. Cook up breakfast? Buy a new set of living-room furniture online? Watch a Carlos Gómez home run trot? All kinds of stuff!

But by now, you know what sweet-swinging Giants first baseman Brandon Belt did in 12 minutes and 45 seconds last Sunday. He dug into the batter’s box at Angels Stadium – and 12 minutes, 45 seconds later, he was still there.

Because Angels pitcher Jaime Barria couldn’t get him out, couldn’t walk him, couldn’t get him to move on with his life, couldn’t even call his lawyer and get a restraining order. Along the way, here’s what transpired: — Belt fouled off 16 pitches. In one at-bat. — He fouled off 15 pitches just with two strikes. — He fouled off 11 pitches in a row – after running the count full (on the ninth pitch of the at-bat). — Barria threw 11 fastballs, six sliders and four change-ups – and mixed in four pickoff throws to first while he was at it. So for all that time – 21 pitches, 16 foul balls, 12 minutes and 45 seconds – basically, nothing happened (until Belt finally flied out to right on pitch No. XXI).

And it was awesome. “He fouled off good pitches,” the dulcet voice of the Giants, Duane Kuiper, told our Useless Info Department correspondents. “And he fouled off bad pitches. As it kept on going, you kept thinking, ‘Man, one of these guys has to get tired.’”

Well, maybe they eventually got tired. But if Kuiper and his partner, Mike Krukow, got tired of watching this 21-pitch extravaganza, it never showed. They were as highly entertaining as ever – despite the repetitive nature of what they were trying to describe. “I will tell you this,” Kuiper said. “I’ve got ‘Swing and a foul’ down. I’ve got that call down pat: ‘The pitch – swing and a foul.’” Asked if these were 12 minutes and 45 seconds he would like to get back, Kuiper laughed. “If I saw it every day,” he quipped, “I’d quit. But once every 40 years, I’m OK with it.”

When a guy sees 21 pitches in one at-bat, though, it isn’t just amusing. It’s historic. So allow us to put that at-bat, that inning and Belt’s day in a little perspective:

—We are not allowing anyone to pronounce that this was the longest at-bat in baseball history – because remember, nobody was counting pitches back in the day when Old Hoss Radbourn was dueling Cap Anson in the afternoon sun in 1884.

Pitch-counting history only goes back 30 years. And in those three decades, we know of only two other at-bats that lasted 19 pitches or longer:

20 — Bartolo Colon vs. Ricky Gutierrez, June 26, 1998. 19 — Steve Bedrosian vs. Kevin Bass, July 23, 1988.

If it makes Belt feel better, neither of those guys reached base, either.

— We know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking: “There must be some hitters in baseball who have never even seen 21 pitches in an entire game. Ever. Right?” Well, if that’s what you were in fact thinking, you would be correct!

The Elias Sports Bureau reports that Royals infielder Adalberto (formerly Raul) Mondesi has played 71 games in the big leagues – and never saw 21 pitches in any of them.

But let’s console Adalberto Mondesi. He should know that last Sunday, only one other hitter on Belt’s team (Andrew McCutchen) saw 21 in that game. And Brandon Belt saw 21 in one at-bat.

— Or how about the Orioles? They just went four games in a row (Saturday through Wednesday) without having any hitter on their team see 21 pitches in a game. And Brandon Belt saw 21 in one at-bat.

— But let’s look at the bigger picture, too. Belt fouled off 23 pitches just in that game, over five at-bats. Yes, 23. According to Elias, no one had even fouled off 20 in any game in over 15 years – since Joe Randa did that for the Royals all the way back on April 3, 2003.

— Meanwhile, poor Jaime Barria threw 77 pitches Sunday – and only got six outs. So in an unbelievable development, his manager, Mike Scioscia, had to pull him from a 0-0 game – in the third inning – because of an elevated pitch count. Granted, his bullpen then let two runs score that were charged to him. But in the pitch-count era, he’s the first starter ever to get gonged out of a 0-0 game with that many pitches thrown and that few outs!

— Finally, thanks to all those foul balls, here’s the most amazing development of all: Barria threw 49 pitches just in that first inning – and the Giants didn’t score! So how often does that happen? Never, of course.

Our friends at Sports Info Solutions have been tracking pitches for 17 seasons. It’s the first 49-pitch half-inning in their entire database in which zero runs were scored. And the most pitches in any shutout inning before this one was just 41, most recently in the eighth inning of a June 12, 2014 Orioles-Blue Jays game.

Have we mentioned in the last 30 seconds that you don’t see this sort of thing every day? All right, check that. You don’t see this sort of thing any day.

SPECIAL ROB MANFRED RULING ON 21-PITCH AT-BATS!

So here’s the deep, philosophical question we would pose after all that went down last Sunday in Anaheim – a 28-minute, 49-pitch first inning that resulted in no runs…and, especially, a 12-minute, 45-second, 21-pitch at-bat:

Was that baseball at its timeless best? Or baseball at its not-enough-happens worst?

“Well, because it’s never happened before,” Kuiper mused, “I’d say it was baseball at its best… Maybe not at its very best. But it becomes entertaining. And I think that’s what the commissioner is trying to get at.”

Is it? Can we be sure of that? Rob Manfred is, after all, a commissioner who is a big fan of speeding up the game, right?

“You know, actually,” Kuiper quipped, with a soft chuckle, “he might say we need a rule: ‘After 10 foul balls, you’re out. We need to speed this thing along.’”

Hmmm. Perhaps he’s right. So just to be clear, we got in touch with the commissioner himself. Is there any chance we could see a Brandon Belt Rule by, say, next week, in the spirit of keeping these games zipping along?

Well, we have an answer. This just in from Rob Manfred himself:

“That at-bat,” the commish told us, “was the type of interlude that makes the game great. I don’t put an epic pitcher/batter duel in the category of dead time.”

And how correct he is. So Brandon Belt, congratulations. You’re officially pardoned by the commissioner of baseball.

NO-HITTER OF THE WEEK

Should we just hand A’s left-hander Sean Manaea the Cy Young Award right now? Until last Saturday, only one starting pitcher in baseball had even won a game against the Red Sox this season (Masahiro Tanaka, in a 10-7 game). And then, miraculously, Manea no-hit the hottest team in baseball.

So how momentous was this feat? Thanks for asking. We have that answer!

— Before they got no-hit, the Red Sox were working on an eight-game winning streak. Anyone remember the last team to have a winning streak that long which ended via a no-hitter? Of course you don’t – because it happened in 1884!

— According to Elias, the only other team in history to meet that fate was Old Hoss Radbourn’s 1884 Providence Grays, who had won 10 in a row before they got no-hit by Larry Corcoran and the Chicago White Stockings. We bet the tweets weren’t quite as pithy after Larry Corcoran’s no-no.

— The Red Sox came into Saturday hitting .293 as a team. And you might say it had been a while since a lineup like that got no-hit, too – since it last happened 40 years ago. The last club to go hitless despite a team average that hefty was Michael J. Schmidt’s 1978 Phillies, who were hitting .295 until they got no-hit by Bob Forsch on April 16, 1978.

— And how hot was that Red Sox offense before this? So hot, it had ripped off seven straight games with at least 10 hits. And no team had gotten no-hit after even five games like that in a row since Wade Boggs’ 1983 Red Sox. They’d unfurled eight consecutive games with double- digit hits before Dave Righetti no-hit them on the 4th of July.

— Before Sean Manaea came into their lives, the Red Sox had only had nine hitless innings in their previous 43 innings. To find the last time they’d had more than three hitless innings in a row, you had to go back two full weeks – to a four-inning hit-free zone against the Rays on April 7. Of course, they still managed to score 10 runs that day.

— And one last quirky note that has nothing to do with any of that. This no-hitter ended on a forceout at second base. Since a bunch of people in the Twitterverse wanted to know how rare that is, we asked Elias. It was the first no-hitter to end with any sort of forceout on the bases since Fernando Valenzuela finished off a June 29, 1990 no-no with a 1-4-3 double play (off the bat of Pedro Guerrero).

THE BARTOLO RELAY WATCH

This week on the Bartolo Watch, we’re going to ignore the majesty of Bartolo Colon, 44-year-old hurler. Because seriously, this week we’re way more transfixed by the magic of Bartolo Colon, 44-year-old high-speed racer.

If you haven’t seen this undoctored footage from an actual game last Saturday in Texas, we want you to take a moment to watch it now because this really happened. On our planet. Watch it and we’ll tell you how it’s possible. We’ll wait. What you’ve just witnessed is our man, Bartolo (Usain) Colon, somehow outracing the ultra-swift Dee Gordon to first base, on an authentic baseball field. According to MLB Statcast wiz Mike Petriello, Sprint Speed data ranks Gordon as the sixth-fastest player in baseball this year. And Colon is, well, as elite in the realm of being extremely not fast as anyone alive.

The Statcast folks don’t regularly track pitchers’ Sprint Speed. But they tell us that the slowest position player in baseball is Astros catcher Brian McCann. Yet they have 10 instances of McCann running faster than the highest speed at which they’ve ever tracked Bartolo.

If we compare Colon to Dee Gordon, um, that doesn’t work out too hot, either – since, through Wednesday, Statcast had recorded 68 different instances in which Gordon was clocked running faster than Bartolo’s fastest time ever just this year.

So if Bartolo Colon could “out-Usain” Dee Gordon to first base, how can that not be simply trick photography? Oh, OK. There’s a logical explanation.

Gordon had to run all 90 feet to first base, obviously. Colon had to run a mere 64. That was helpful.

When ball left bat, Colon “sprinted” toward first base. It took 3.37 seconds for him to get close enough to catch the toss from first baseman Ronald Guzman. At that point, Gordon was already 73 feet up the line – but Colon, in that sneaky way of his, only had to cover 53 feet.

Gordon would motor those final 17 feet in .57 seconds. But Colon had to traverse a mere 11 feet. Gordon almost made up the entire six-foot difference in that blink of an eye. But even though his peak Sprint Speed was a world-class 29.7 feet per second and Colon peaked at a mere 21.3 feet per second, it wasn’t enough to keep Gordon from being the latest victim of Bartolo being Bartolo.

Which just goes to show you that even science and Statcast are no match for the inexplicable phenomenon that is Bartolo Colon.

THE OHTANI WATCH Can’t let a week go by without a few vital Shohei Ohtani facts and figures. Such as…

— In his start Tuesday against the Angels, he threw four pitches clocked at 101 miles per hour. All starting pitchers not named Shohei Ohtani have combined for zero this year.

In fact, the last starter before that game to have any pitches clocked at 101+ by Statcast was Noah Syndergaard, who threw six on Sept. 19, 2016.

— Now let’s lower the bar to a mere 100 miles per hour. Ohtani is now up to 16 pitches this year that have been measured by Statcast at 100 mph or faster. Just so you know, 176 other pitchers have started a game this season. Those other 176 have combined for nine pitches that hit triple digits – four by Syndergaard, four by Luis Severino, one by Walker Buehler.

— But as you know, this man Ohtani doesn’t just pitch. So those triple digits don’t only apply to the rockets he’s launching with his arm. According to MLB’s director of research and development, Daren Willman, only one man in baseball has thrown a baseball 100+ mph and also hit a baseball 100+ mph this year. That man would be – bet you can guess – Shohei Ohtani.

— Finally, there’s this cool nugget, from the Orange County Register’s Jeff Fletcher: Ohtani struck out the reigning AL MVP this week. That would be José Altuve. He has also homered earlier this year off the reigning AL Cy Young. That would be Corey Kluber.

So of course I spent an hour the other day trying to figure out how rare it is for anyone to homer off a reigning Cy Young and strike out the reigning MVP in the same season. And of course just after I found the answer, I saw it had already been tweeted by the YES Network’s James Smyth (@JamesSmyth621). But here’s the result of that research anyway:

Last man to do that? Madison Bumgarner, who did both against Clayton Kershaw (2014 Cy and MVP) in the same game – on May 21, 2015.

Last man to do it off two different award winners? Liván Hernández (with a homer off Tom Glavine and a bunch of whiffs of Sammy Sosa) in 1999.

Last man to do it in the American League? You have to venture back before the DH era, to 1970, when Mel Stottlemyre homered off Mike Cuellar and struck out Harmon Killebrew.

Shohei Ohtani. Not sure how he made it through another week without generating a Babe Ruth note. But there’s always next week.

THREE MORE WILD NUGGETS

— Is there a more one-sided rivalry in baseball than the Twins and Yankees? They got a chance to hang out together at Yankee Stadium again this week. And once the Yankees had finished sweeping a four-game series, it meant that since 2002 (if you count the postseason), the Yankees have gone an incomprehensible 94-33 against the Twins. That’s the equivalent of playing like a 120-win team (or in the Twins’ case, the ’62 Mets) over a full season.

Next-best record by any team against any other team in its league over that same period: The Angels are 84-45 against the Tigers. — Max Scherzer got a hit off Clayton Kershaw last Friday. He’s just the third three-time Cy Young to get a hit off another pitcher who had won at least three Cy Youngs. The others:

Roger Clemens went 2-fo- 2 off Maddux on April 29, 2005. Tom Seaver singled off Steve Carlton on Aug. 18, 1981.

Fun group! — And would you believe Jim Riggleman has now served as an interim manager for five different teams – the Reds, Nationals, Mariners, Cubs and Padres. He has won 148 games as an interim manager – which is two more than Rick Renteria has won in three seasons as a non-interim manager.

FIVE STRANGE BUT TRUE FEATS OF THE WEEK — The Pirates turned the craziest double play of the year against the Phillies last weekend – a 1-3-4-2-5-8-7 circus in which seven men got involved, none of the outs were at first and the shortstop never touched the ball. So how bizarre was that?

Retrosheet founder Dave Smith looked at every game since 1940 and reports there have been just three other double plays in which seven different defenders got mixed up in the play: 2011 White Sox in Kansas City (9-2-6-2-5-3-4-1) 1969 Braves versus Cubs (3-6-2-5-1-4-7) 1969 White Sox in Minnesota (1-5-6-5-4-2-8-7)

— The Nationals scored 15 runs against the Giants on Wednesday. But what made that especially impressive is that the line score went: 300 322 230. In other words, no big numbers. Just 2’s and 3’s.

Our favorite numerologist, Eric Orns (@eorns), delved into that one and tells us it’s only the fourth game in the last 100 years where a team scored 15-plus runs, made up of all two-run and three-run innings. It hadn’t been done in almost 70 years, since the Cubs put up an 023-032- 32x line on June 28, 1950.

— On Opening Day, the Pirates beat the Tigers, 13-10. On Wednesday, the Tigers beat the Pirates, 13-10. Not surprisingly, that caught the eye of Doug “Kernels” Kern (@dakern74) – who reports that the only other time in history when two teams traded 13-10 games was in 1889, when the New York Giants and Chicago White Stockings pulled that off.