Tribe terrorizes Reds pitching staff

By HAL McCOY

They scheduled a baseball game in Cleveland’s Progressive Field Monday night and batting practice broke out. Or was it Home Run Derby.

By the end of the fifth inning between the Cleveland Indians and the Cincinnati Reds there were 13 runs and 22 hits on the scoreboard.

And the Reds trailed by a run. Then they quit hitting, but the Tribe didn’t and posted a 15-6 victory.

CLEVELAND STARTER right hander Cody Anderson who took the mound with a 0-3 record and a 7.31 earned run average. The Reds couldn’t wait to get into the batter’s box.

And sure enough, Reds starter John Lamb was given a 4-0 lead by the third inning on home runs by Adam Duvall and Eugenio Suarez.

Lamb, though, was roughed up for four runs in the third and three in the fourth and the Tribe took a 7-6 lead.

THEN IT WAS Reds bullpen time and bye-bye ballgame.

Layne Somsen replaced Lamb in the fifth and the Tribesmen did some hefty batwork. Somsen escaped a bases loaded problem in the fifth but he gave up five in the sixth that included a three-run home run by Yan Gomes and a two-run rip by former Reds outfielder Marlon Byrd to push it to 12-6.

In his four innings Lamb gave up seven runs and 10 hits and saw his earned run average soar from 1.80 to 5.79.

Sonsen pitched 1 1/3 innings and gave up five runs and give hits and saw his earned run average zoom from 0.00 to 19.29.

The Assault on the Bullpen Precinct continued in the seventh against Caleb Cotham when the Indians filled to the bases with no outs and plated two runs on a pair of deep sacrifice flies. And Cotham’s earned run average crept up to 6.52.

SO LET’S CHECK the bullpen ledger and it almost takes higher math. In only 28 games the Reds bullpen has pitched 117 innings and given up 98 earned runs, an excruciating 7.53 earned run average.

The Indians entered the game with th 23^rd worst team batting average in major league baseball, but crushed 19 hits Monday night.

Unfortunately for the Reds they have another game Tuesday night in Progressive Field, where they have lost 14 of their last 15 games.