CLEVELAND, Ohio – Trevor Bauer got off to a scorching start to the 2019 season. He was 4-1 with a 2.45 ERA following a 7-4 victory over Miami on April 30.
Since then, he's struggled and he hasn't won another game. The same issues he had in May showed up again on Thursday night in a 5-4 loss to the Twins. Bauer allowed five runs and three homers in eight innings of work. He’s shown flashes of being the dominant ace the Indians’ desperately need, but he hasn’t been able to put it together for an entire outing.
“I thought I executed really well all night overall and it just seems like anything that can go wrong, will go wrong for me right now,” Bauer said. “I get gun-shy every time a ball goes in the air because it seems like everything that’s hit in the air is a homer. I feel like I need to strike more people out, but I can’t get swing and miss, even when I throw pitches in locations that should create swing and miss.”
This is the THIRD homer of the game for Max. ------Max, probably: "Cleveland Rocks!" #BombaSquad pic.twitter.com/m5f9lIevd9
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) June 7, 2019Bauer has given up nine home runs in his last seven starts. His ERA was 1.99 on April 25. It’s up to 3.93 after Thursday’s loss.
“You look at the pitches you execute, like last game I gave up nine hits and seven of them were in places that were supposedly advantageous for me,” Bauer said. “Tonight I gave up five hits and three homers killed me – two of them were supposed to be in my favor.
“It’s been frustrating for sure, but I guess you just got to assume it’ll start going in your favor at some point because it sure hasn’t for me in the last month and a half.”
The Indians have dealt with plenty of adversity this season. Bauer has had his struggles, they’ve had countless injuries after an underwhelming offseason and other stars like Jose Ramirez have issues of their own. Bauer is clearly frustrated with his performance. He's dealing with some physical issues of his own.
“My body is pretty banged up and that’s where my focused has been – trying to get ready physically,” he said. “I’ve executed really well the last three starts and I’ve lost all three of them. For a while I didn’t feel like I could execute because I didn’t feel like I could move the way I needed to move. Now I feel like I can move more so the way I need to move and I execute well and I still get beat.”
The Indians took two of three against the Twins, but are still 9.5 games out of first place in the American League Central Division. If they’re going to make a run, they’re going to need Bauer to be great. He hasn’t been that guy since the start of the season.
“I’m giving everything I have for my team, but it’s been rough.”
