Fifth Inning Fallout Leads to Royals Dominating Indians 12-5; Three Takeaways from the Loss

1. Two Head Scratching Days

After winning three of four against a bad Oakland team, the Indians finally seemed to have some swagger as they got set to head to play a team in the Royals are entered Saturday last in the division at 24-30 and going nowhere in 2017.

Yet here we are after two games against them, and the Indians have been outscored 16-5, and were shutout on Friday night against a less than impressive pitching staff.

This has to be frustrating to not only the front office but to the coaching staff and manager Terry Francona, who has been patient with this team since the start of the season but just can’t seem to get them to turn the corner for good.

The division is the Indians for the taking, and the American League is up for grabs despite the red-hot start for the Astros, who the Indians have beat 5 of 6 times.

Instead, here they are struggling with a bad Royals team that had dropped three of four before coming home and beating two Indians starters in Josh Tomlin and Carlos Carrasco.

Watching this team at times this season has been downright aggravating, and Saturday was another prime example the way things started and then almost in a flash fell apart in that fifth inning.

And to lose a game Saturday against a guy like Jason Hammel who the Royals are 1-9 with on the year when he takes the mound is inexcusable for a team that has big plans of playing in late October.

Something has to happen for this team to get it going – many including Francona and company probably wish they knew what that was.

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