Bauer comes up small again
reminded there could be more than one goat at the center of the Fall Classic.
Hey, it’s the thought that counts, right?
“Hi Trevor,” read the enclosed note. “Go Cubs Go!”
Facing the Chicago team famously cursed by a billy goat, Bauer crossed the fine line between folk hero — a title afforded anyone whose finger bleeds like a leaky faucet on the mound — and fall guy in the Indians’ 5-1 loss Wednesday night at Progressive Field.
In an October run when so much has gone so right for the Indians, Bauer remained the notable exception as the Cubs evened the series.
Bauer, 25, a right-hander, labored through 3⅔ innings, his command as raw as the night. (“It was so cold,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona cracked, “that I tried to go to the bathroom in the fourth inning and I couldn’t.”)
Add in two Indians errors and Jake Arrieta holding the hosts without a hit into the sixth inning, and this freshly spoiled city temporarily awakened from its wildest dream.
Though Bauer’s stitchedup pinky held up and he avoided serious trouble, he again forced an early summons of the bullpen — and surely has Francona mulling his biggest personnel decision of these playoffs.
This was not the literal mess of last week. In Toronto, he retired only two hitters in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series before his drone-attacked finger tore open and his night ended.
But Wednesday wasn’t much more pleasant.
A pitcher who had thrown all of 21 pitches the past 20 days naturally struggled with his command, allowing two runs on six hits and walking two in a grinding outing that made Lawrence of Arabia seem like a quick, breezy flick. In three starts this postseason, he has allowed five runs in 9⅓ innings.
Where do Bauer and the Indians go from here?
Francona has admirably managed aggressively in these playoffs, and as he revealed earlier Wednesday, we have seen nothing yet. He announced that every member of his undermanned rotation still standing will start on short rest in the World Series.
That includes ace Corey Kluber, who tossed six scoreless innings in Cleveland’s 6-0 victory in Game 1. Kluber — who is 3-1 with a 0.74 ERA in four playoff starts — was pulled after only 88 pitches Tuesday with his potential starts in Games 4 and 7 in mind.
“In our situation right now, there’s a couple factors,” Francona said. “One, some guys have gotten hurt. Two, we still wouldn’t have done it if we didn’t think it was the right thing to do. And part of that is the workload ... this has been Kluber’s least amount of pitches this month.”
With Kluber, that makes perfect sense. But Francona also said he intends for Bauer and Josh Tomlin to go on three days of rest. Bauer is scheduled to pitch Game 5 at Wrigley Field while Tomlin is on course to start Games 3 and 6.
That plan likely will hold for Tomlin, who is 2-0 with a 2.53 ERA in his two playoff starts. But bringing Bauer back on short rest for a game in which Cleveland’s season might be on the line should be avoided. Our guess is Francona strongly considers turning Game 5 into a bullpen game.
It might be the Indians’ last best hope.