CLEVELAND _ Once the floodgates opened, the Indians were unable to withstand the onslaught of the Houston Astros in an 8-2 defeat Thursday night at Progressive Field.
The Indians held a 2-0 lead entering the fifth inning. From there, it quickly went downhill.
With two runners on in the fifth, third baseman Alex Bregman drilled a three-run home run to left field off Indians starting pitcher Mike Clevinger, giving the Astros their first lead in a flash.
Clevinger (3-2) departed the game in the sixth still trailing by a run. Two batters and two pitchers later, the Astros had extended their lead to 7-2.
With two inherited runners on, Tyler Olson faced one batter and gave up a single to Max Stassi to make it 4-2. He was relieved by Neil Ramirez, who promptly surrendered a three-run home run to center field by Jake Marisnick.
After a single by George Springer, Bregman added an RBI double to deep right-center to cap the Astros' five-run sixth and force the Indians to bring in Oliver Drake, the fourth pitcher of the inning.
The Indians bullpen has had a tough time lately protecting leads, and it's not been much better at keeping small deficits manageable to allow the offense enough time to rally. Thursday night was another example of how a one-run game can quickly get out of hand, particularly against a lineup with as much firepower as the Astros.
Clevinger was tagged for five earned runs _ two after he left the game _ on seven hits and three walks to go with four strikeouts. It was a rough night in an otherwise outstanding season for Clevinger, whose ERA rose to 3.32.
The Indians (24-24) took a 2-0 lead in the third inning against Astros starting pitcher Charlie Morton (7-0). Roberto Perez singled to open the inning and Francisco Lindor doubled to left-center field with one out. Michael Brantley then took advantage of the Astros (33-18) bringing their infield in by lining a two-run single up the middle that might normally have been fielded.
Brantley seems to be past both the shoulder and ankle issues that plagued him the last two-plus seasons. He entered Thursday's game 10th in the American League among qualified hitters with a 151 wRC+ and is hitting .335.
