CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Indians’ struggles at the plate continued on Tuesday night in their 2-0 loss to the White Sox.
They’ve lost three-straight games and are 18-16 on the season. They’ve been outscored 21-1 in the last three games. They are 1-for-21 with runners in scoring position during that span.
The Indians are one of two teams with a winning record, despite having a negative run differential (-16). Milwaukee is the only other winning team that has been outscored this season (-2).
What is manager Terry Francona doing to turn things around at the plate?
“Not panicking,” he said. “Sometimes you gotta be patient, even when you don’t want to be. I believe in our guys and you can’t just pat them on the back when things are going great, that’s the easy part. When it’s not looking so rosy, that’s when you really gotta keep at it. If I don’t then how can I expect them to? So that’s what we’re going to do.”
The Indians rank last in Major League Baseball (30th) with a .212 team batting average. They're last in hits (231) and are 27th in runs scored (119). They're 29th in slugging percentage (.335) and 27th in home runs (30).
Last season the Indians posted a .259 batting average as a team. That was second in the MLB behind Boston. Philadelphia had the worst team batting average last year at .234. The Indians only have five players with a batting average higher than that (.234) so far this season.
There's no way the Indians' bats will stay this cold all season long, but that's mostly because it's nearly impossible for them to be any worse. Francisco Lindor and Jason Kipnis were the only two players to get hits on Tuesday night.
The players not named Lindor or Kipnis went 0-for-22 with four walks and nine strikeouts. If the Indians are going to win the American League Central Division for a fourth-straight season, then they need more consistency out of their lineup.
The Indians will get their next chance to turn things around on Wednesday night against the White Sox.
