Game of the Week: April 7: CLE @ HOU

[Commissioner Erick]

Cleveland Indians (0-0) @ Houston Astros (0-0)



CLE: Corey Kluber (11-5, 4.08)
HOU: Dallas Keuchel (15-9, 3.24)


The 2019 season starts off with two teams whose 2018 ended in disappointment. The Cleveland Indians lost a disappointing series to their rival the Chicago White Sox in the ALDS, while the Houston Astros lost a play-in game with the Yankees to miss the playoffs entirely.

The two teams have the talent for deep postseason runs and will test themselves against each other on Opening Night.

Corey Kluber will square off against Dallas Keuchel in a matchup pitting the 2017 wins leader against the 2018 innings leader.

Kluber had a bit of a disappointing 2018 as his ERA jumped to 4.08, though he continued his postseason mastery with 8.1 shutout innings against the champion White Sox. He now has a postseason ERA of an even 2.00 so he knows how to produce against the best teams.

Keuchel, meanwhile, is coming off a year where his ERA and component metrics were worse than 2018, but he still produced more WAR due to the sheer volume of innings he threw. Keuchel only struck out 174 batters in 228.0 innings, but he never allows home runs and seldom walks anyone. He's a two-time All Star, a Gold Glove winner, and one of the best in baseball at keeping runs off the board.

These are two of the best 11 pitchers all-time in terms of WAR so we should be in for a treat.

Houston's lineup was sabotaged by an anomalously slow start from Jose Altuve. Once the calendar heated up Altuve rediscovered his magic. Which Altuve shows up may determine how far Houston goes. Houston's lineup should also benefit from some management stability. Ryan James is the fifth GM to pilot Houston in three years, and some curious roster decisions have held the team back. A full season of Daniel Murphy at first, Alex Bregman at third, and Derek Fisher's bat in the lineup could take Houston's offense to the next level.

Cleveland's lineup, however, is in a bit of flux without Francisco Lindor around. Addison Russell didn't bring a lot of batting average to the Cubs, a reason they were comfortable trading him away. After Cleveland got nothing from their catchers last year, they took on Brian McCann who only hit .202 for Houston. J.D. Martinez suffered a mysterious power outage last season, and Giancarlo Stanton's average dropped to .201 despite 39 home runs. The lineup may not be as dynamic as in years past and how the power-based players try to attack the sinker of Dallas Keuchel may be a fun plot to the game.

Cleveland's bullpen may be world class. Postseason struggles aside, Mark Melancon is one of the best out of the pen and the 2017 saves leader. Andrew Miller fanned 134 in 79.2 innings last year, Carl Edwards Jr. fanned 95 in 64.2 innings for the Cubs last season, and Cody Allen fanned 64 in 49.0 innings before a rotator cuff injury shut him down. Sergio Romo and Boone Logan provide depth for a unit that should be incredible at holding leads.


Questions for the GMs:


For David Springgay, You have a lot of veterans with major league experience who will start the year in Triple-A. Why were you so aggressive in providing your team with veteran depth?

Catcher and third base were positions of weakness for you last year. How comfortable are you with those positions heading into this season?

Dallas Keuchel is a master at keeping the ball on the ground. Your squad wants to slug everything out of the park. Will you alter your strategy at all for this matchup?

For Ryan James, you were just named the manager of the Astros recently. What are your impressions of the club?

Is there anything you learned from your brief but successful tenure with the Rays that you'll carry with you to Houston?

Josh Reddick had a nightmare 2018. How much leash will you give him early this year?

[Ryan - Mets]

For Ryan James, you were just named the manager of the Astros recently. What are your impressions of the club?

This is a team that's built to win now, and I think the team will benefit from more stable management. We're in a great division, and I think we've got a great shot to win it.

Is there anything you learned from your brief but successful tenure with the Rays that you'll carry with you to Houston?

Obviously, I learned how to keep the budget down. It'll be nice to have some money to spend now. I plan on locking down the core of this team, which is something that would've been hard in Tampa.

Josh Reddick had a nightmare 2018. How much leash will you give him early this year?

Not much. He needs to prove that he's capable of handling the everyday RF job. Luckily we have a few options that are in place to fill that spot if he gets off to a slow start. With Texas in the division it's important to get off to a good start, but I won't panic if we're a little behind at the beginning. We've got 162 games to reclaim what this team should have won in 2018: a division title.

Better watch out Texas.... The Astros are back.

[indiansgm]

For David Springgay, You have a lot of veterans with major league experience who will start the year in Triple-A. Why were you so aggressive in providing your team with veteran depth?


Over the course of the last two seasons we have been hit with injuries to major contributors that has been extremely harmful to our title hopes long term injuries a couple years ago to both Cookie and Frankie last season to Cody they have derailed our title hopes the veteran depth is there to helpcover for the inevitable injuries all teams endure over a 162 game season


Catcher and third base were positions of weakness for you last year. How comfortable are you with those positions heading into this season?


They definitly were very disappointing and we are hoping for major improvements going forward. At catcher we have veteran Brian McCann and rookie Evan Skoug to platoon until Evan is ready to take over full time as our catcher. At 3b we are hoping young Yandy Diaz wildcard hero last season is ready to take the reigns from the moose at 3rd if not we do still have mike and David Freese available to help fill in



Dallas Keuchel is a master at keeping the ball on the ground. Your squad wants to slug everything out of the park. Will you alter your strategy at all for this matchup?

We are hoping our lineup manouvers has helped to balance the lineup a bit more and not be so reliant on the long ball to win games going forward and we have a brilliant opportunity to show the league our balanced attack as we take our 1st steps to regaining our AL central crown

[Commissioner Erick]

Indians 9 - Astros 8


WP: B. Kintzler (1-0)
LP: K. Giles (0-1)
SV: M. Melancon (1)


Lewis Brinson started off 2019 with a huge home run that gave Cleveland breathing room after a furious Houston comeback. It was his defense that prevented Houston from making a final comeback.

Brinson gunned down Jose Altuve's attempt to tie the game in the ninth, Jason Kipnis hit Cleveland's sixth home run of the game to give Cleveland a ninth-inning lead, and the Cleveland Indians held on in a classic to knock off the Houston Astros 9-8 on Opening Day.

The game was a wild affair where Cleveland would jump out to comfortable leads only to see Houston storm back later. Houston cut a 6-0 deficit to 6-5 and squared up an 8-5 deficit at 8-8. Brinson thwarted their attempt to recover from 9-8.

Altuve led off the ninth with a weak grounder for short that Russell couldn't get enough on. Daniel Murphy followed with a well-executed sacrifice bunt to move Altuve to second with one out. Alex Bregman followed with a fly ball to left center that fell in front of Brinson. The trajectory on the ball slowed down Altuve just a beat, though he got a pretty good read on it. Brinson however, showed off the arm that helped land him a Gold Glove last year, and his throw to the plate arrived just ahead of Altuve for the send out of the inning.

Cleveland gave up a lot to get Brinson in 2018, but the former Rookie of the Year and 2018 Gold Glove Award winner contributes with his power, his speed, and his range. Altuve discovered he also contributes with his arm. With the wind out of Houston's sails, Carlos Correa dribbled a grounder to Diaz to strand Bregman and end the game.

The early parts of the game didn't hint at the need for a play at the plate to decide the game. That's because Dallas Keuchel was struggling and Corey Kluber was dealing.

Bradley Zimmer led off the game with a home run off an 0-2 pitch, an ominous sign at what was to come. In the second, Addison Russell got things started with a double, scoring on a Sam Travis single to make it 2-0. Travis was caught trying to go first-to-third on a single or the inning could have plated more runs. After Jason Kipnis doubled to start the third, J.D. Martinez clubbed a two-run home run to make it 4-0. Martinez didn't bring the power he was expected to in 2018, so an early home run must have been assuring to David Springgay.

I took until the fourth for Keuchel to fire a scoreless inning, but his habit of giving up extra base hits to leadoff hitters popped up in the fifth when Jason Kipnis tagged him for a double the other way. Jandel Gustave entered and gave up a home run to Giancarlo Stanton making it 6-0.

Keuchel finished with a wholly unimpressive line. He worked 4 innings, allowing five runs on eight hits, six of which went for extra bases. He did strike out five allowing just one walk, but he caught too much of the plate against a dynamic offense.

At this point Corey Kluber was on top of his game, having gone 5 innings and facing just one over the minimum. Houston finally got to him in the sixth when the bottom of the order came up. Garrett Stubbs led off the inning with a double before Josh Reddick singled him in. Altuve walked and Murphy singled to load the bases. A pair of sacrifice flies made it 6-3, and then Kluber was pulled for Carl Edwards Jr. Derek Fisher greeted the new pitcher rudely with a two-run bomb, and all of a sudden the 6-0 lead became 6-5.

Brinson and Russell wasted no time extending the league, with the duo going back-to-back with home runs with two outs in the seventh. For Russell it was his third extra base hit of the game.

In the bottom of the eighth though, Houston managed to rally yet again. Cody Allen came in and Murphy took his fastball the other way for a hit. Bregman walked on four pitches, before Carlos Correa shot one to the gap for an RBI double making it 8-6 with the tying run on second. Boone Logan came on did yeoman's work, striking out Fisher, and then striking out Tony Kemp to keep the runners at second and third.

Brandon Kintzler came in and walked Springer to load the bases. Stubbs then hit a slow grounder back to the mound that Allen struggled with. Once he picked up the spinner, he threw it away, allowing both runs to score and tying the game. With two still in scoring position, Reddick hit a grounder to the right side that Travis fielded and Allen never got off the mound. Travis barely beat Reddick to the bag to end the frame and keep the game tied.

Kipnis wasted no time getting the lead back in the ninth, when a high 2-2 pitch was unloaded into right field for a home run. Kipnis joined Russell with two doubles and a home run in a dominant day for the two middle infielders. Even then it wasn't over, but Brinson's heroics saved the day.

Kemp was the only player who didn't reach base. Despite Kluber outdueling Keuchel, Houston's staff fanned 13 players compared to eight for Cleveland. Evan Skoug went 1-4 in his major league debut.


Questions for the GMs:

For David Springgay, what a wild game. For starters, are you concerned at all with how your bullpen fared?

I think people know about Russell's power potential, but how nice was it to see him with three hits and a walk in his four plate appearances?

You batted two lefties atop your lineup against the left hander. Is that something we'll see all year?

For Ryan James, would you have liked to see Altuve more conservative trying to score in the ninth inning?

Sticking with the ninth inning, Daniel Murphy had three hits in the game. Why the decision to bunt with him in the ninth?

Your relievers did not do a good job, allowing four runs in 5 innings, a number that would look worse if not for Luke Gregerson's scoreless 1.1 innings. How do you feel about your pen after seeing it in action for the first time?