The Cleveland Indians were unable to get going offensively as they only managed four hits in a 1-0 loss to the Oakland Athletics.
The only run of Saturday’s 1-0 loss was scored on a wild pitch from Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer. Matt Chapman of the Oakland Athletics took advantage of the moment and put the Athletics ahead.
Excluding the wild pitch, Trevor Bauer pitched well Saturday. Bauer went four innings, allowed two hits, struck out two and allowed one run. This was a typical start from Trevor Bauer, when the regular season comes along this is exactly what the Indians would want. Of course his start would be much longer and he would strike out more batters. It is good to see that Bauer is building off of last season’s breakout campaign.
The bullpen had another good outing. The group consisting of Neil Ramirez, Tyler Olson, Alex Wilson and Nick Wittgren went four innings, allowed one hit and struck out four. Just who the team can trust out of the bullpen is rounding into shape as the spring progresses.
Offensively the Indians struggled. Kevin Plawecki was the only player to see somewhat regular playing time to get a hit. Tyler Naquin and Greg Allen combined to go 0-6. Two other outfield candidates Matt Joyce and Jordan Luplow went a combined 0-5. Joyce drew a walk to make this total a little less awful, but it is still far from acceptable.
In regards to some possible utility player candidates, Ryan Flaherty went 0-3 and Max Moroff went 1-3. Like most Tribe hitters Eric Stamets also went 0-3. This group needs to improve if they want to make the team out of Spring Training.
The Indians are now 4-4-1 this spring. Cleveland will look to turn things around in their next Spring Training game Sunday against the Kansas City Royals at 3:05 P.M.
