Tribe pitching finally fumbles in loss to Cubs

CLEVELAND -- As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. And after the Tribe’s pitching staff had gotten off to a historic start, its run has officially come to a close.

The Indians had held their opponents to four-or-fewer runs in each of their first 17 games. The only team in the Modern Era (since 1900) to have a longer such streak to start a season was the 1981 A’s, who did so in their first 21 games. But Cleveland’s chase for first place came to a screeching halt in a 7-1 loss to the Cubs at Progressive Field on Tuesday night.

• Box score

“Pretty well aware of [the streak],” Cubs second baseman and former longtime member of the Tribe Jason Kipnis said prior to the game. “I’ve gotten to witness it first hand for years … It’s not a surprise to me when you show me a gaudy stat on these guys. They’ve been fun to play behind, fun to watch for years now. Yeah, we’re hoping to change that. We know it’s going to be a tough ballgame. Their pitching and offense kind of even out. We know their offense side can come around. I can attest to them how some of these hitters can get hot and you don’t want to wake a monster that’s sleeping.”

On a night when the Tribe had to make a last-minute switch to their starting pitching plans after Mike Clevinger was placed on the restricted list due to violating team protocols, Adam Plutko pieced together four solid innings, permitting just one run. The right-hander had gone exactly two weeks since his last spot-start and made one appearance out of the bullpen.

“2020 is a year of distractions as far as playing baseball, that's for sure,” Plutko said. “Dealing with what we did pregame, not ideal. Not really what any of us want to talk about, really what any of us want to think about. But the reality is, that's where we're at right now. It's another distraction for us tonight and I'm not going to say the difference maker, but it contributes. None of the 28 other teams playing games tonight, no other team had to deal with what we had to deal with tonight. It is what it is.”

Despite Plutko’s short outing, given his reduced pitch count transitioning from the bullpen, the starting rotation had gotten used to its relievers continually picking them up. The ‘pen had posted the third-best ERA (1.51) in the Majors entering Tuesday (behind the Cardinals, who have played only five games, and the Dodgers), but suffered its first off night of the year.

Rookie Cam Hill gave up four runs on two hits in two-thirds of a frame while Phil Maton and Logan Allen were each charged with a run. Hill had previously given up one run on two hits in his first six career appearances, and the Indians’ relief corps as a whole had the third-best strikeouts per nine (11.23) and homers per nine ratios (0.43). They were also second in walks per nine innings (2.16), trailing only the Cardinals.

While their streak of 17 games of four-or-fewer runs has been impressive, it’s also been necessary. The offense had averaged 3.5 runs per game entering the series opener against the Cubs, which ranked third-worst of all 30 teams, causing the team to rely heavily on its pitching staff over the first two-and-a-half weeks off the season. Not much changed with the bats on Tuesday night, as Cleveland tallied a mere four hits on the night.

“Even when you’re not hitting really well, when you’re pitching really well every run you get means something,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “It’s allowed us to be -- we’re not shooting to be 10-8, but it’s a lot better than being 2-12. Because we haven’t swung the bats nearly like we’re going to. So, hopefully we keep pitching and our bats warm up a little bit.”