CLEVELAND -- The Indians entered Tuesday’s game owning the sixth-highest defensive WAR (7.0) according to FanGraphs, and were tied with the fourth-fewest errors in the Majors. But on a rare night, the Tribe’s defense played a large role in its 8-6 loss to the Royals at Progressive Field.

Though it’s not penciled in the scorebook as an error, center fielder Delino DeShields ran into some trouble in the third inning, losing his footing on a fly ball from Nicky Lopez. DeShields tripped as he tracked the ball, allowing it to fall in for a double in front of him. The next batter drew a walk before Whit Merrifield launched a three-run homer off starter Triston McKenzie, who struck out seven over five innings.

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Cleveland held a two-run lead heading into the seventh inning, but the frame started on a rough note, as shortstop Francisco Lindor -- playing on the right side of second base in a shift -- bounced a backhand toss to first baseman Carlos Santana, who was unable to hold on to the ball. The error was charged to Santana and the two runs that went on to score that inning were both unearned.

“We just gave too many opportunities,” Indians temporary manager Sandy Alomar Jr. said. “We can’t give extra outs in order to be a Major League team. We gave them chances. Let’s put it that way.”

The defensive miscues put the bullpen -- which was resting Brad Hand and Phil Maton -- in a position from which it couldn’t bounce back. And although the offense fell short in the ninth after pushing one run across, the team still had three promising takeaways from the game to build on for the final 18 games of the regular season.

Karinchak bounces back
Indians rookie reliever James Karinchak got off to an unbelievable start to the season, posting video-game-like numbers with a 0.54 ERA and 31 strikeouts in his first 16 2/3 innings. But his past three outings had not been as sharp; he allowed five earned runs through 2 1/3 innings with four walks. Though it’s easy for skids to cause a snowball effect for rookies, Karinchak showed he could bounce back with an efficient nine-pitch, two-strikeout scoreless frame on Tuesday.

“Like I said before, when he had the breaking ball from ball-to-strike and from strike-to-ball, he’s good,” Alomar said. “The problem he gets into is when he throws from ball-to-ball. … He was pretty on point tonight. So, [I] wanted him to get him out of there in a good frame of mind. One inning and get him out, and hopefully tomorrow he gets a chance again.”

Lindor’s bat could be here to stay
Lindor got off to an uncharacteristically slow offensive start to the season, and every time he started to show signs of heating up, he’d run into another brief slump. But over his past 18 games, he’s indicated that his regular Lindor consistency may be back to stay just in time for the home stretch of the regular season. In 70 at-bats, he’s recorded 26 hits (.371), five doubles, three homers and seven walks with a 1.007 OPS.

“He's more patient within the zone,” Alomar said. “He's giving room for the pitchers to pitch. Before, I think they were crowding him too much. Those pitches are balls, and he's swinging at it out of the zone. At times, he gets a little anxious and swings out of the zone. But when he stays with his approach up the middle, down and away, and the guys make mistakes, he drives the ball. He's doing much better, slowly climbing up there with his batting average.”

Freeman makes seamless transition to third
The Tribe is hoping that José Ramírez’s thumb injury will only sideline him for a game or two, but Mike Freeman did his best to ease any concern of what Ramírez’s absence could bring. Though he only had 24 plate appearances entering Tuesday’s game, Freeman went 2-for-4 with two doubles in the loss.

“It’s easy to sort of what I would call ‘believe the lie,’ that this is a really hard thing to do and I shouldn’t hit because I haven’t been playing,” Freeman said. “So in my mind, I’m telling myself, ‘Hey, there’s no reason you shouldn’t hit.’ … I kind of reverse it and kind of flip it mentally, like, ‘Today is my opportunity. I know I can hit, I’ve hit before, I’ve hit in this position. Let’s just go play some baseball.’”

Up next
As Lindor said earlier this week, "He represented all of us, and now it’s our turn to represent him.” Major League Baseball celebrates its 19th Roberto Clemente Day on Wednesday, and both Lindor and Alomar discussed how special this occasion will be and are looking forward to bringing more attention to someone who was a hero in their home of Puerto Rico. Carlos Carrasco will get the ball for the Tribe, facing lefty Danny Duffy of the Royals. First pitch is slated for 6:10 p.m. ET, live on MLB.TV.