Sadly they left their bats in Northeast Ohio as the Astros cruised to a 7-2 win and take a 1-0 lead in the series.
The Indians didn't have a base hit off Justin Verlander until the sixth inning when they scored both of their runs on a wild pitch and a Jose Ramirez ground out.
Corey Kluber was the losing pitcher in allowing four runs (all on home runs ) in four and two-thirds innings.
Game two is this afternoon as the Indians will send Carlos Carrasco against the Astros Gerrit Cole in an attempt to tie the series before it returns to Cleveland.
Smoke Signals
1) Corey Kluber's postseason struggles continued as he allowed four runs on six hits in picking up the loss.
Kluber just couldn't keep the ball inside the park as the Astros hit three homers in the fourth and fifth innings all to left field.
2) Kluber just seemed to have problems with his command from the first pitch and it was more than just hitting two batters from a pitcher that prides themselves on their control.
Kluber just seemed out of sync despite allowing just six hits.
Could that be a physical factor??
3) Cleveland had a chance to get back into the game in the sixth after the Astros chased Kluber and stretched their lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the fifth.
The Tribe loaded the bases with just one out, but instead of the needed big inning, they would settle for just two runs and then would be taken out of the game completely in the Houston seventh.
4) Cody Allen has been very disappointing this season and when Martin Maldonado hit the fourth solo homer of the day for the Astros (and another run scored after the homer), the game was essentially finished.
Allen is a free agent at the end of the season and I'll be willing to wager that the Indians aren't going to meet his price-especially after an offseason.
5) The Indians struggled with the sticks last year against the Yankees in the playoffs and with just three hits in the game one defeat, looks like things haven't changed in a year.
All three hits were singles and while that can be excused against a starter that is the quality of Justin Verlander, the Indians won't be meeting a starter far behind Verlander in game two against Gerrit Cole, so the bats had better warm up and fast.
6) I always liked Dennis Eckersley as a pitcher, but he wore me down in this one as the color commentator.
Eckersley didn't come off as having a bias either way, but he did come off a bit unprepared and less than informed.
Eckersley called Red Sox games this season and despite the inevitable calls of bias, he would have been a better choice to work the Red Sox-Yankee series as he would have been far familiar with those teams.
7) Unless the Indians and Astros go five games and the Red Sox-Yankees pairing would end early, all the games in the series are afternoon games.
That has its pro's and con's, but it really comes down to the league and its network partner wanting the bigger market all in prime time.
8) So keep point seven in mind, when after game two, some media types will complain about Cleveland and Ohio fans not tuning into game two in the numbers that you would suspect and the lower ratings that ensue.
Why would this be?
In order to have their beloved Red Sox-Yankee series in prime time, the Indians and Astros will start at 4;30 directly opposing the Ohio State game against Indiana.
You can argue reasonably that postseason baseball should trump a regular season football game, but many won't look at it that way and watch the Buckeyes instead, even as a prohibitive favorite over the Hoosiers.
9) Game two is huge for both teams.
A split swings home field to the Indians while an Astro win would keep serve with Houston and would force Cleveland to sweep the final three to win the series.
Carlos Carrasco has pitched very well down the stretch, while his opponent, Gerrit Cole had his worst month of an excellent season in August and hasn't completely rebounded yet.
This is a must have for the Indians-the series may depend on it.
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