Indians closer Chris Perez must have an excitement clause in his contract. Perez entered Sunday’s game with a one-run lead against the offensively challenged Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.
Before the Indians could escape with a 5-4 win and Perez pick up his first save since Opening Day, the Astros loaded the bases with one out, the potential winning run in scoring position at second base.
Perez struck out Chris Carter and retired Jason Castro on a hard grounder to third to end the game. Close call.
“A one-run save is more difficult,” Perez said. “Just get the job done. I don’t care how it is.”
Houston’s Rick Ankiel hit Perez’s first pitch for a double to center, then Perez hit Matt Dominguez on a 3-2 pitch, Marwin Gonzalez sacrificed both runners into scoring position and Jose Altuve was intentionally walked. Tighten your seat belt.
“With a three-run lead you can come in, sort of feel out the strike zone a little bit,” Perez said. “Ankiel, I made a good pitch but it caught too much of the fat part of the plate and he did a good job getting on it. I wasn’t going to let Dominguez get a hit.
“My ball was going all over the place today. First and second, nobody out, I don’t feel comfortable throwing strikes yet. You can’t simulate the intensity, the at-bats the hitters are taking on the other side, laying off close pitches. You can’t replicate that.”
Manager Terry Francona realized how tough a save it would be after Ankiel’s double.
“All of a sudden, first-pitch double and you’re not settling in,” Francona said. “You never can with a one-run lead. But he’s pitching from the get-go. That’s tough to do. He wasn’t commanding very well, and he knew it.”
Mark Reynolds, starting his first game of the season at third base, made the key play on the hard grounder off Castro’s bat, throwing to first to end the game.
“Luckily, by the time I looked [Reynolds] had already scooped it up,” Perez said. “It was a bullet. I was happy I didn’t turn around and see it in the outfield. He made a great play.”
Reynolds, a former third baseman for Arizona, had played either first base or designated hitter for the Indians. He said he still takes ground balls every day, trying to stay sharp.
“I was in the right spot,” he said of the grounder from Castro. “I haven’t played there in a long time. After I got my first grounder out of the way, the nerves kind of went away and I got back to my old self.”
It was a tough defeat for the struggling Astros.
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