CLEVELAND - When not getting no-hit for a second consecutive game feels like an achievement — perhaps even a victory itself — the outcome of the three-game series won’t take as much effort to decipher as it often took for Cleveland to reach base.
But when you’re already the victim of MLB’s first three no-hit season, becoming the first to ever get denied in the hit column in consecutive games would be a lot more embarrassing than simply getting swept by one of the National League’s best teams.
Oh, and that last part still happened, as the Indians were blasted on Sunday, 11-1. The first, however, was avoided thanks to Ryan Lavarnway’s sixth-inning single.
As it stands, the 1917 Chicago White Sox remain the only club to ever get no-hit in consecutive days — though, a double-header on the second day prevented the eventual champions from being held hitless in back-to-back games.
A World Series eased that sting. Cleveland is not likely to experience that same luxury.
The Indians narrowly avoided their fate, picking up their first hit since Friday night with a Lavarnway looping single to center field in the sixth. But that was the last bit of drama to unfold in the blowout loss to the Brewers, a game decided early on Sunday afternoon, long before Milwaukee starter Eric Lauer departed.
“The Brewers have a very talented staff,” Lavarnway said. “Credit where credit is dude. We hit the ball hard a few times before that hit dropped. They just ended up in gloves. I’m glad we finally got the hit. Obviously, the result of the whole game wasn’t what we wanted.”
It had already been a forgettable week for the Indians offense, which was no-hit by Corbin Burnes and Josh Hader on Saturday and was nearly held hitless on Wednesday, if not for an Amed Rosario single in the seventh against the Twins. They went 15 innings between hits between Friday’s loss and their first knock on Sunday.
It was fitting that Lavarnway ended the no-no bid of Lauer, a Midview High School and Kent State product, as it was the backup catcher that had also provided the closest call prior to the sixth. The right-handed hitter barreled a ball in the third inning and slugged it to the wall in center field, where Jackie Bradley Jr. made a leaping grab.
“I played with Jackie in my Red Sox days and I’ve seen him do that about 100 times,” Lavarnway said. “Normally, I’m cheering for him. Always happy to see him play well. I knew if it didn’t get high enough off the wall, he was probably gonna catch it.”
The Indians, overall, finished with just four hits and one run on the day.
“Personally, I just try to take it one pitch at a time,” Lavarnway said of the mounting no-hit innings. “It’s such a cliché, but it’s a cliché because it’s true. All the innings that we went without hits, they don’t count in the inning that we’re in, so you just have to find a way to stay present and attack what we’re doing in the present.”
Even so, little mattered to swing Sunday’s contest, as Aaron Civale, in his second start back from the IL, gave up seven runs and three homers in just three innings.
Overall, Cleveland managed just 10 runs this week against Minnesota and Milwaukee pitching, coming on the heels of a 20-game stretch where Indians bats managed to hit at least one home run in every contest. Perhaps that sort of inconsistency over the 1-6 stretch is the sign of a young squad, but the two ends of the offensive spectrum are even more odd than your typical “that’s just baseball” dismissal.
President Chris Antonetti noted before Sunday’s finale that the team has yet to find a consistency to their production this year. That’s certainly one way to put it.
The Indians entered Sunday with MLB’s 20th-highest run total, and they are certainly have a different makeup than the one no-hit twice earlier this season.
But while Cleveland appears to have found some building blocks in Myles Straw and Rosario to pair with Jose Ramirez and Franmil Reyes, this week simply accented the importance of internal development of their youth, some tough decisions on borderline players and the necessary additions of more proven commodities in the winter ahead.