More often than not this season, Trevor Bauer has proven a surprising model of consistency for a club that has lacked that trait in its starting pitching. On Tuesday night, Tribe fans were reminded that the 23-year-old still has some growing pains to work through — and that the team as a whole still needs to find its footing.
Bauer fought shaky command and fell victim to a four-run fourth inning as the Indians lost to the Mariners, 5-2, in front of 15,713 at Progressive Field. Cleveland (52-54) was tagged with its fifth defeat in its last six games, while the club’s largely silent offense mustered less than four runs for the fifth time in its last nine contests.
For a team that opened up the second half by winning three of four at Detroit, the Indians’ lackluster play over the ensuing eight games has had a noticeably deflating effect.
“It’s been a rough go these last couple weeks for us,” said Nick Swisher, who accounted for two of the team’s eight hits on the night. “Kind of seemed to come off that All-Star break, we have a great series against Detroit, thinking to ourselves maybe playing Minnesota, Kansas City, Seattle you might be able to have a little let down. But that’s kind of backfired. We really got to pick it up and turn it around.”
Bauer (4-6, 4.25 ERA) saw his streak of four consecutive quality starts snapped with the loss after allowing a season-worst five runs through 4 1/3 innings, which tied for the right-hander’s shortest outing of the year.
“I think I was just behind [in the count] too much,” Bauer said. “When you don’t get ahead, they take more confident swings, so you kind of back yourself into a corner.”
The Indians’ lineup provided little in the way of run support in the meantime, managing just two runs and six hits off Seattle starter Hisashi Iwakuma. The righty recorded six strikeouts to only one walk and showcased his standout repertoire over seven strong innings of work.
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