The Cleveland Baseball Club lost to the Tampa Bay Rays by a score of 9-8, their seventh straight loss.
Seven straight losses and nine in their last 10. That is how badly things have gone for the Cleveland Baseball Club as of late. Monday’s 9-8 loss was gut wrenching as the team actually had a chance to buck the losing trend, but an absolute meltdown from Emmanuel Clase in the 9th led to the loss.
Clase came on with a chance to close out the game and earn the save, but failed to record an out while allowing two runs on three hits and one walk. Tampa started the inning off with three straight singles, the last of which drove in the game-tying run. Clase then intentionally walked Austin Meadows to load the bases after which an errant throw from Cesar Hernandez to home allowed Randy Arozarena to score the game-winning run.
Clase was not the only Cleveland pitcher to struggle in the loss. Logan Allen got the start and was not fooling any of Tampa’s batters. Allen allowed five runs on seven hits and two walks.
The frustrating aspect about this loss in particular is that Cleveland matched their run total from the three previous games combined and they still lost. Franmil Reyes led the way with three hits, including a two-run homer in the 5th and a two-RBI double in the 6th. Jose Ramirez and Cesar Hernandez both collected two hits with two runs scored and a run driven in. Amed Rosario went 2-5 with a run scored as well. Oscar Mercado had a surprisingly productive day at the plate as he went 1-2 with two walks and two runs scored.
