Pitching Lets Down The Tribe, Fall in First Of Four Against the Yankees 6-3 at Progressive Field

Thursday can be defined as a night of frustration for an Indians team who looked like they were ready to breeze through for their 9th win of 2021. 

Instead, the Yankees, who entered play Tuesday with the worst mark in the American League at 6-10, fell behind 3-0 after an incredibly sloppy first inning, but did a whole lot right from there to rally for a 6-3 win.

The victory puts Cleveland at 8-9, while the Yankees push their mark to 7-11. 

Aaron Civale and the entire Indians staff had issues finding the plate, and it showed by the fact the club threw a whopping 175 pitches in nine innings, and while striking out 10 they still walked nine batters. 

It also was a night had yet to see in 2021, as it was the first game (now 1-7) in which they had rallied after trailing by three or more runs at anytime. 

Friday evening will see Logan Allen look to try and rebound after allowing five runs in just two innings in a 10-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds back on April 16th.

He'll go up against Jordan Montgomery, who is 1-1 on the young season with a 4.24 ERA. 

Here are some takeaways from the loss to New York on Thursday evening and looking ahead.

1. The 'O' Had Their Shots

Tip your cap to Yankees starter Domingo German, who after a real shaky first in which he allowed not only three runs by threw 26 pitches, he was very good after that lasting six innings total.

If you would have watched German in that first inning, you would have 'no way' he would have made it six innings. 

It looked like Cleveland could get into the New York pen in the 2nd or third, but again there was a sense of taking a lot of pitches, which maybe the team should have backed off on. 

"I give the kid credit, he kept us off the board after that first inning," Indians manager Terry Francona said after the setback. 

The Tribe offense had eight hits and two walks. They also though were awful with runners in scoring position, going just 2-for-11 on the evening.

2. How About Civale

Aaron Civale in the first two innings needed 38 pitches to settle in, but he did his best to keep the game at bay while the offense was quiet for the Tribe.

Civale struggled all night with command, walking four and striking out six in giving up two runs, three earned on four hits. 

"I thought uncharastically we had a bunch of walks and a lot of deep counts, that was not our goal tonight, but it was staff wide we didn't throw a lot of strikes tonight," Francona said.

There was a sense that Civale tried too hard to nitpick his way into and out of the strike zone, and by the time it was done and he was pulled, he threw 93 pitches, but only 53 were strikes.

"Just gotta be more aggressive in the zone and attack better," Civale said after the setback.

Civale did enough for a no-decision despite having his issues getting the ball over the plate all evening. 

3. Next Up

Friday in front of what will be called a sellout (it'll be just over 10,000 here at Progressive Field) the Tribe and Yanks will go in game two of their four game series.

Jordan Montgomery is on the bump for the Yankees, while the Indians will counter with Logan Allen, who as we talked about in the open is coming off his worst outing to date in 2021, allowing five runs in just two innings against the NL Central Reds at the Great American Ballpark last week.

It'll be interesting to see if Allen can bounce back against a Yankee lineup that is still struggling for consistency.