Covering the Bases: Game 84
Notes and quotes from Thursday’s 11–2 win over the Padres…
FIRST: There is an unwritten rule in baseball that is well-known in Major League clubhouses. Each day, every player is fair game for pregame interviews, with one exception. That day’s starting pitcher is off limits.
On Thursday afternoon, a reporter walked over to Josh Tomlin’s locker for a brief chat. Tomlin obliged, because everything you hear teammates say about him is true. He’s just a nice guy. Turning down a request for an interview isn’t really in his nature, even if it violates some silly unwritten rule.
Would this illegal pregame chat derail Tomlin’s day? Would it hinder his preparation and cost Cleveland the game? Or, would it precede a no-hitter, tearing down decades of unwritten protocol and suddenly make pitchers want to talk to reporters before their starts?
Whatever that reporter said must’ve worked. Tomlin was perfect for four innings before allowing a leadoff double in the fifth.
“The way he went about it,” Indians bench coach Brad Mills said, “moved the ball around, changed speeds, it was outstanding. They started getting hits a little bit later on, but the way he was able to command the zone, work quick … he really did a good job.”
For a rotation in need of consistency at the back end — and on the same day Danny Salazar allowed three runs (each on a solo homer) in his 3.1 Triple-A rehab innings — Tomlin’s outing was extremely encouraging.
Over seven innings, he gave up two runs over seven innings. He struck out six, walked none and allowed four hits. During his strong stretch from May 6-June 2, when Tomlin had a 3.60 ERA in 40 innings, he threw strikes at a 71-percent rate. In the next five starts (7.94 ERA), that dropped to 63 percent.
That’s still a good range, but Tomlin is best when, A) He can command his curveball, and B) Effectively command within the zone. Against San Diego, he threw 74 of 96 pitches (77 percent) for strikes.
“It’s huge for me being a guy who isn’t very powerful,” Tomlin said. “So, I have to control the count as much as I can. Obviously, there’s certain situations where you don’t want to control the count, you want to pitch around guys. But for me, controlling the count and following [Yan Gomes’] glove is huge. We were able to do that tonight.”
You’ve hard the phrase “filling up the strike zone.” Here’s a gorgeous visualization:
As noted after Tomlin’s last outing, ineffectiveness with his curveball was creating a chain reaction that led to less success with his cutter. Without that reliable variance in pitch speed, batters could narrow their focus, and Tomlin was forced to try to force chase, rather than come about it more naturally.
Tomlin fired 16 curves and was able to get five called strike and one swing and miss. He stuck with his recent trend of relying heavily on his cutter (42.1 percent in his previous five outings) by throwing 37 on the night. This time, though, that approach was effective, and largely due to a better curve.
“When I’m able to command the curveball,” Tomlin said, “especially for two strikes or behind in the count, to be able to throw a curveball and then get a strike, I think it makes them have to expand on the cutter a little bit more.
SECOND: Back on June 14, Jose Ramirez collected a pair of hits against the Dodgers. Since then, the Indians third baseman hasn’t. stopped. hitting.
Here’s his zone profile since then…
There’s nowhere to put the little ball icon before you release the pitch.
In the 23 games Ramirez has played dating back to June 14, he has gone 43-for-96 in the batter’s box. That’s a .448 batting average, and that goes along with a .485 on-base percentage and a .906 slugging percentage in that span.
Let’s take it a step further.
I’ve reference since end point a few times: May 27. Back on that date, Ramirez’s season OPS dipped to .790, representing the last time it’s dropped below .800. Since then? Ramirez has hit .405/.443/.757. So, he’s hit over .400 in roughly a quarter of a season’s worth of at-bats. That’s insane.
Against the Padres, Ramirez went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBI. Even the two non-hits were impressive. In the third, Ramirez hustled on a chopper to pitcher Dinelson Lamet, who misplayed the ball for an error and allowed Ramirez to each. In the eighth, Ramirez engaged in a 13-pitch battle, which ended with a flyout to center.
Ramirez’s night highlighted an all-around great showing for the lineup:
Edwin Encarnacion homered (№18) and ended with four hits and four runs in a game for the first time since August 2011. He was a triple shy of a cycle — after having his first triple since 2014 last weekend. Yan Gomes also drew a walk and hit a homer to center — a positive sign for the catcher.
Cleveland’s Nos. 3–6 hitters (Michael Brantley, Encarnacion, Ramirez and Lonnie Chisenhall) went a combined 10-for-18 with two homers, two doubles, one triple, eight RBIs and eight runs scored.
“We had so many hits from the middle of our lineup,” Mills said. “The middle of that order, man, really swung the bats well. … It was nice to kind of get everybody kind of contributing and putting it together.”
THIRD: If you haven’t heard, Ramirez has teamed with Cleveland Coffee Company on a “Jose! Jose!” blend, which will have proceeds to to the Boys & Girls Club of Cleveland. Nice move by the Tribe’s All-Star third baseman.
There’s just one problem… Ramirez’s baserunning over the past couple games.
On Thursday, Ramirez tried to scramble from second to third on an errant throw by left fielder Allen Cordoba, and got thrown out on an eventual 5–6 putout. In the sixth, he ran too far beyond first on a single and was retired on an 8–3–6–4 rundown.
This came after Ramirez was thrown out at the plate by right fielder Hunter Renfroe on Wednesday night.
“So what’s happening,” Ramirez said through team translator Anna Bolton, “is I’m drinking a little bit too much coffee. I’m going to have to tell [the team chef] to stop making so much coffee, because it’s making me a little crazy.”
Asked about Ramirez’s mishaps on the basepaths, Mills chuckled, which one can do in the wake of an overwhelming victory.
“We had all kinds of guys wondering if he made the All-Invisible team,” Mills quipped. “We were thinking about making sure the bases were 90 feet — not 95. You want a guy to be aggressive and take the extra base. When it starts adding up, obviously, and you’re not swinging the bat like he is, it becomes an issue.
“But, at the same time, being thrown out on a consistent basis, we want to kind of be under control a little bit more.”
HOME: Thursday’s game was the latest espisode of “That’s Baseball.”
You’ve heard that plenty of times over the years. Fluke hit? That’s baseball. Made a bad pitch and still got the out? That’s baseball. Have two balls wind up in the outfield during a play because someone warming up in the bullpen threw an extremely wild pitch? Well, that’s not baseball, except for that one time against the Reds.
On Thursday, the Indians had 14 hits and 13 at-bats with runners in scoring position, and scored 11 runs. One night earlier, the Indians had 14 hits and 15 at-bats with runners in scoring position, and scored two runs.
That’s baseball.
“That’s just the game. That’s how it is,” Ramirez said. “You can’t be surprised when the game ends up like this, because it’s a difficult game and it’s a weird game sometimes.”
ICYMI…
Stay tuned for more…
— JB
