CLEVELAND _ The Indians looked to be cruising to their sixth consecutive win, but a four-run lead was squandered in an 8-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays Friday night at Progressive Field.
The Indians opened a 4-0 advantage through the second inning but allowed eight unanswered runs _ four in the fourth, the decisive blow in the seventh and then some insurance runs in the ninth _ to fall to 8-6 this season.
Similar to the temperature dropping more than 30 degrees a few hours before the first pitch, the Indians started well but had a quality start derailed.
The Indians jumped on an opposing starting pitcher for the second consecutive night to build a sizable lead. This time, it was against Blue Jays starting pitcher Marcus Stroman.
The Indians went up 2-0 after the first inning on RBI singles by Yonder Alonso and Tyler Naquin. In the second, Francisco Lindor ripped an RBI double at 111 mph to right field and Jason Kipnis followed by drilling a ball to center field that went for a ground-rule double when Kevin Pillar couldn't track it down to make it 4-0.
As the Cleveland weather has warmed up, so too has Lindor. He had a solo home run and an RBI double in Thursday night's 9-3 win over the Detroit Tigers. On Friday night, he followed that up by going 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. He also notched the 100th double of his career.
Indians starting pitcher Mike Clevinger cruised through the first three innings Friday night, allowing only one hit and striking out four. Then the wheels came off in a fourth inning that took 39 pitches to finish, and the Indians never recovered.
Clevinger lost the strike zone, walked two batters and then allowed an RBI single to Pillar with two outs. Aledmys Diaz followed by belting a three-run home run to center field, quickly erasing the Indians' advantage. Just like that, a game of which the Indians looked to be in control quickly was sent back to square one.
Some aggressiveness by Lindor didn't pay off in the sixth. With Lindor on second and two outs, Jose Ramirez lined a ball to second baseman Devon Travis, who stopped the ball but couldn't field it cleanly. Lindor made the turn around third, but the throw beat him to the plate and he was tagged out to end the inning with the score still tied 4-4.
One inning later, the Blue Jays took their first lead of the night. With Steve Pearce on second base, Andrew Miller thought he had delivered strike three to Teoscar Hernandez with a slider on the outside corner. Miller took a few steps toward the dugout and Hernandez, as well, started his walk from the plate. It was called a ball, though, and the next pitch was a slider that stayed up in the zone and Hernandez drove it to left field for a go-ahead, RBI-double.
The Blue Jays (9-5) piled on Matt Belisle on the ninth to seal it. Pearce doubled home two runs and Hernandez followed with an RBI double to make it eight unanswered runs and extend the Blue Jays' lead to 8-4.
The loss dropped the Indians to 6-2 on the current homestand.
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