Fifth Inning Errors Prove Costly, Indians Fall To Yankees 5-2; Three Takeaways From The Loss

An inning with a couple of errors from Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor led to Cleveland’s 5-2 loss to the New York Yankees on Saturday.

After getting the Tribe on the board with a solo shot in the fourth inning, Lindor made an extremely rare defensive blunder that helped put New York ahead in the fifth inning. It wasn’t just one error either.

Lindor bobbled a ground ball in an attempt to start a double play. After squandering that opportunity, he then turned and tried catching the Yankees baserunner on his way to third base but threw the ball to the left away from Jose Ramirez.

Here’s the three takeaways from the loss.

1. Perfect Start, Poor Ending- Trevor Bauer started off in a fantastic way for the Tribe, going four perfect frames on Saturday. But it all got off the rails in the middle innings.

After giving up consecutive walks and the first hit of the ballgame, Bauer walked home the first run for New York. Things got rather congested on the basepaths and the fiery starter lost control of the start with the errors playing a hand in the matter.

Bauer can’t really be faulted for today’s collapse but he seemed to become unhinged when things didn’t go as planned. But it’s not every day that your All-Star shortstop makes an unlikely defensive whiff.

2. Offensive Sputter- Following a lot of offense from Cleveland over the last week, the team hit a wall. The Tribe only put up five hits on Saturday and pushed across just two runs. It wasn’t a good day for really anyone in the lineup.

The good news is Francisco Lindor continues to heat up at the plate, hitting a solo shot in Saturday’s game. Lindor and the offense have shown a ton of improvement at the dish as a whole, so worrying about today’s struggles shouldn’t take up too much of your day.

3. Sonny Saturday- Unlike his ALDS outing against the Indians, Yankees starter Sonny Gray was pretty solid in his start Saturday against Cleveland. Gray went six innings and only allowed two runs on a pair of hits. He only walked two batters and struck out seven on his way to the win.

If these teams meet again in the postseason, it’ll be interesting to see how these two pitching staffs match up. Gray seems much more poised in his first full season with New York.