Indians fail in first test with new rule

The Indians’ 3-2 loss in 10 innings to the Kansas City Royals on Saturday included the introduction — at least in Cleveland — to the automatic-runneron-second-base rule.

It was weird.

Any baseball purist will have a tough time with the rule implemented by Major League Baseball, in which each team will automatically have a runner placed on second base to begin each inning after the ninth.

Strategies will develop, and execution will be critical. In this case, the Royals executed, and the Indians didn’t.

Kansas City bunted its runner to third, and he scored on a sacrifice fly. In the bottom half, Cleveland mostly eschewed the bunt, and the game ended with three ugly strikeouts.

“They were extremely aggressive with what they were running (defensively) with their bunt plays,” Indians manager Terry Francona said on a Zoom call. “So we’re a hit away from winning the game, was our thinking.”

There were only nine hits in the game, five by the Royals.

Indians starter Mike Clevinger allowed two solo home runs in the first inning, but allowed only two more hits through the next six.

Reds suffer first loss

Jacoby Jones hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning off Raisel Iglesias, rallying the Detroit Tigers to a 6-4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday at Great American Ball Park.

Reds starter Luis Castillo reached double figures in strikeouts for the 10th time in his four-year career, fanning 11 in six innings. He allowed one run.

Cincinnati led 3-1 after getting home runs from Joey Votto — his second in two days — and Freddy Galvis.

The Reds had to place infielder Matt Davidson on the 10-day injured list after he tested positive for COVID-19.