Indians Come Up Short Against Devil Rays

Danys Baez comes out of the bullpen with a 5-3 lead, and I still felt like the Indians had a chance. They rallied a bit before coming up short. Crisp smashed a double into right field. Jhonny Peralta walked and Travis Hafner came to the plate. He grounded into what could have been a double play, but Lugo juggled the exchange on his way to first.

First and third, one down, and Victor Martinez came to the plate and promptly knocked one run in with a single. Pinch runner Franklin Gutierrez goes from first to third. Ronnie Belliard needed to do anything but hit into a double-play and sure enough that is exactly what he did.

A fly ball of any kind probably scores Gutierrez. Even a dribbling grounder might have kept the inning alive. A strike out, a pop out, anything other than the double play ball that he hit. Brousard was up next and at least from a lefty-righty standpoint, he had a good chance of keeping this game alive.

It isn't all darkness though. The struggling White Sox dropped their game to Detroit 3-2. So for now, the A.L. Central still remains reachable with the Indians only being down 2 games. The wild card is still all tied up as Boston and New York are still in the midst of their games against Toronto and Baltimore respectively.

As of this time, New York and Boston are both losing, so hope remains.

For now...