Game #20 Observations: Big Bats Give Civale Much Needed Run Support in Indians 10-5 Win

Aaron Civale allowed four runs for just the second time in his career on Friday night, but the Cleveland Indians gave the righty the most run support to date in a 10-5 win. The team moved to 11-9 through one-third of the shortened season.

The win marks the first since starting pitchers Zach Plesac and Mike Clevinger were sent home last week due to violating MLB policy.

Right-handed power bats Franmil Reyes and Domingo Santana each homered and drove in three runs, while Tyler Naquin drove in three of his own. Despite a reeling offense, Cleveland managed to earn six walks, with all but two resulting in runs. Their 10 runs came on eight hits.

James Karinchak relieved Civale in the 7th inning, blowing through the Tiger order while striking out two. Cam Hill and Dominic Leone finished the final two frames.

Cleveland and Detroit square off for Game 2 of their three-game set in the Motor City on Saturday at 6:10 p.m. Shane Bieber (3-0, 1.63 ERA) is set to face Spencer Turnbull (2-0, 2.00).

Here is what we saw on Friday:

Wild Horse

Civale entered the game with a 2.47 ERA and 3.14 FIP over his first 13 career starts, sterling marks so early on. The 25-year-old has stayed off of hitters’ barrels for the most part, with a 2.3% barrel rate, and a 32.9% hard-hit rate.

On Friday, the Tigers posted three barrels against the righty, quadrupling his season total. Detroit also registered nine hard-hit balls (batted balls with exit velocities at 95+ miles per hour) against Civale, raising that season count to 25.

It is not as if Civale was just missing the edges, he was relatively wild the entire night. Detroit hitters were aggressive, walking once, but when Civale missed, he often missed badly.

The outing was merely an outlier among a handful of great starts from Civale, but something was a tick off on Friday night. All things considered, he still limited damage over six innings, barely missing a quality start. The righty’s next start should come next week against the Pittsburgh Pirates, currently the worst team in baseball, and he should have an opportunity to work out any kinks.

Road Warrior Franimal

Reyes continued his hot streak on Friday, the only Cleveland hitter with multiple hits. His two-run home run in the 1 inning was immaculate.

Seriously, it was perfect by every relative measure. The 462-foot blast was the hardest-hit ball of the year at 112.8 mph off the bat, and left the bat at a 26-degree angle, considered the optimal launch angle for a projectile. Statcast registered the hit with a 1.000 expected batting average (xBA), and as a home run had it occurred in any major league stadium.

It was not too bad to look at, either.

“It’s that bad, eh?”

Cleveland’s offensive woes are no secret, ranking last in every common and advanced hitting metric outside of on-base percentage (29 in baseball, thanks solely to Carlos Santana). 

Looking to get anything going, Francisco Lindor laid down a bunt with two outs in the top of the 1st inning, and catcher Sandy León did the same in the top of the 2nd. Both were thrown out easily.

Bunting for a hit is fine if done in the right spot, especially during an offensive drought. That said, there was no reason for Lindor to do so with two outs against one of the most hittable pitchers in baseball, Ivan Nova. 

Lindor, a 30 homer hitter and soul of the team, should not sacrifice run expectancy against a pitcher in the 5th percentile in quality of contact and the 6th percentile in expected slugging (xSLG).

León, a career .217 hitter, can probably afford to be creative in his approach, but again, Nova represents perhaps the best opportunity for a light-hitting catcher to pick up an extra-base hit. 

Additionally, León clocked in as the 9-slowest sprinter in baseball last season, making him a poor candidate to bunt regardless of pitcher.

Again, there are some scenarios where bunting is a good idea. Neither of these scenarios were. 

Terry Francona has given Lindor the window to bunt as he sees fit, but the skipper should still be weighing in when a poor decision is made. Two outs is the best time to throw a proverbial hail Mary, not punt.