CLEVELAND _ With a former Cy Young winner on the mound for the visitors, one inning of unraveling can be enough to send the home fans away from the ballpark unhappy.
Tuesday night at Progressive Field, Josh Tomlin was sharp except for a stretch of four batters in the fifth inning, which was enough to down the Indians in a 4-2 loss to the Houston Astros and ace Dallas Keuchel.
Outside of that stretch in the fifth, Tomlin threw six innings, struck out six and allowed only four hits. The Astros brought 38 batters to the plate, but those four were all they'd need.
With the Astros trailing 1-0, Yuli Gurriel and Evan Gattis opened the inning with singles. Norichika Aoki drove in a run with a double to deep right field to tie it 1-1. Josh Reddick followed with the major blow, a two-run single to left field that gave the Astros all the needed offense for the night. Tomlin recovered to finish the fifth with two strikeouts and a weak flyout, but the damage had been done.
The Astros (14-6) took advantage of a miscue by Yan Gomes in the ninth to add an insurance run. With a runner on first, Aoki tapped a ball down the first-base line. Gomes fielded it but tossed it into right field, putting two runners in scoring position. Reddick continued his torrid night against the Indians with an RBI single, pushing the Astros' lead to 4-1. George Springer followed with a fly ball to right field that Guyer caught and then delivered a strong throw to home plate to nail Aoki and prevent any further damage as a result of the error.
Keuchel tossed a complete game, allowing six hits and striking out five. His lone blemishes were Austin Jackson's home run in the third inning that put the Indians on top 1-0 and Michael Brantley's solo shot in the ninth to make it 4-2. It was Jackson's first home run as a member of the Indians and his first home run since Oct. 1, 2015 as a member of the Chicago Cubs.
The Indians (10-9) made Keuchel work for it in the ninth. After Brantley's home run, Jose Ramirez singled with one out to bring the tying run to the plate. But Keuchel recovered to strike out Jason Kipnis and induce Brandon Guyer into a game-ending groundout on a terrific diving play by Carlos Correa.
On top of driving in three of the Astros' four runs, Reddick also took away a home run off the bat of Kipnis in the fifth inning on a ball he drove to the top of the wall in center field.
