CLEVELAND _ Like some in the crowd, the Indians' offense seemingly took a day off from work.
The Boston Red Sox threw more than half a dozen pitchers at the Indians, who hit none of them hard in a 5-1 loss Wednesday afternoon at Progressive Field.
Red Sox pitcher Brian Johnson started the game (2 2/3 innings) and was followed by Marcus Walden, Darwinzon Hernandez, Josh Taylor, Nathan Eovaldi, Andrew Cashner and Brandon Workman, all of whom kept the Indians' lineup off balance.
The Indians' lone run of the day came about via two errors, a walk and a wild pitch. With one out, Francisco Lindor grounded a ball to Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts in what was a tough play. Lindor was credited with a single and advanced to second after Bogaerts' throw sailed into the camera bay beyond first base. Oscar Mercado then reached on an error by third baseman Rafael Devers on a grounder that hit the lip of the infield grass and took a low hop. Lindor then came around to score via a wild pitch by Johnson
Aside from that sequence, the Indians' offense had a slow, quiet Wednesday afternoon.
And though Bogaerts and Devers committed those errors, it was only a few minutes earlier, in the top half of the third inning, that they also gave the Red Sox (64-59) all the offense they'd need. Facing Indians starting pitcher Shane Bieber, Devers drilled a solo home run and was followed by Bogaerts with a solo shot of his own, as the back-to-back homers gave the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.
Bogaerts delivered the knockout blow in the top of the seventh as the Indians' offense continued to stall. The Indians (72-49) had turned to Nick Goody, who has been stellar this season and sported a terrific slider. But with two runners on, Goody made a rare mistake with that slider and left it up and over the plate, and Bogaerts hammered it for a three-run home run over the 19-foot wall in left field for his second homer of the day.
