Shortest Start of Tomlin’s Career Ends in a 10-4 Tribe Loss

Cleveland— An early exit for Josh Tomlin ended in the Indians second straight loss to the Chicago White Sox.

After winning the home opener at Progressive Field on Tuesday, the Indians have dropped the last two games, including Thursday’s 10-4 loss. Not only did the Tribe lose the Chicago series 1-2, they are now 1-4 in their last five games.

The White Sox started to build their lead early.

First pitch early.

That’s when shortstop Tim Anderson rocked a home run to left field off of Tomlin; from there, the floodgates opened.

In the first inning the White Sox would belt four more runs. With two outs, Matt Davidson hit a two run homer, followed by Omar Narvaez’s RBI single two plate appearances later.

Tomlin ended the night giving up eight hits and seven earned runs, and said the early hits were all due to his misses and miscalculations.

“I think it’s just a matter of missing over the middle of the plate. That’s been the common theme of the balls that were hit tonight,” Tomlin said.

“You do that enough times in a big league line up and they’ll make you pay for it.”

The five runs scored in the first inning would be too much for the Indians bats to overcome. After Tomlin gave up a two run RBI single to Avisail Garcia, manager Terry Francona would look to the bullpen.

Both Francona and Tomlin used the same language after the game, saying that all of Tomlin’s pitches were “leaking back over the middle” of the plate.

With the loss, Tomlin’s record drops to 0-2 on the year. In 6.1 innings this season, Tomlin has given up 15 hits and 13 runs while recording six strikeouts, none of which came against the White Sox.

Tomlin’s 1.2 innings tonight matched the shortest start of his career from August 30 last season against the Twins.

For comparison, in 2016 Tomlin picked up wins against the Mets and the Tigers in his first two starts, recording 10 strikeouts, and allowing two runs off of eight hits in 11.2 innings pitched. He also started out the season on a seven game win streak.

After the game, Tomlin seemed more than eager to move forward.

“Soon as I leave here tonight it’s back to work tomorrow and figuring out what I need to do to get better,” he said.

The Tribe is back in action tomorrow against the Tigers in Detroit. Trevor Bauer will take the mound.