The Indian attack spoils the brilliant start of Shane Bieber

Here is a series of depressing statistical notes for you:

Compare that with the AL Twins, which have about 6.2 million points in their last seven games, and the situation is downright grim. It all boils down to the six games the Indians play against the Twins in September, make no mistake. But they do not benefit by losing a match like this to the Rays, and they can not afford to do so many times in their two playoff series against Minnesota.

Tonight, while the Twins totaled 13 points at the time of writing their game against the Tigers, the Indians were cleared by the Rays and have not really fought. Only two balls hit by Indian hitters were harder than 100 mph: Franmil Reyes with a 109 mph alignment and Roberto Pérez with a mere 104.4 mph. In total, five Indian batters were shot in the night, and only Tyler Naquin had an extra shot in base with a 1-2.

Unfortunately, Naquin's contributions were shattered as he executed a flying ball in infested territory and fell awkwardly on his right leg. It certainly looks like something that turns into slow-mo, but I always try to stay in the mindset of "everything looks worse in front of the camera" until something is confirmed. But it does not look good. Naquin immediately fell into pain and Oscar Mercado greeted the medical staff with the urgency of reporting a doctor on the beaches of Normandy.

It could have – should have been – another night of celebration for Shane Bieber's quick rise to ace status. It was another big night for him, with nine strikeouts and six hits in 6.1 innings. He will still have three deserved points in the record book tonight, but two of them have come because his manager has decided to put Adam Cimber in the game in another highly leveraged situation. Cimber then preceded the immediate abandonment of a homerun and the exhausted Indian attack could not respond in the last two rounds.