Josh Tomlin did his job on Sunday night at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Joe Smith.
As the bottom of the 8th inning began, the Indians were enjoying a comfortable, 3-0 lead. Tomlin was pitching a 3-hit shutout, and the Texas offense looked utterly helpless. However, Tomlin revealed some chinks in the proverbial armor when he issued a lead-off walk to Mike Napoli. The next batter, Mitch Moreland, hit a sharp single to center field, prompting Manny Acta to turn to his bullpen. Joe Smith, who possessed a miniscule earned run average of 1.23, was given the baseball and charged with bridging the gap between Tomlin and Chris Perez, the Tribe's closer. Smith, though, did not even record an out. 3 singles and a walk followed, allowing the Rangers to grab an advantage of 5-3.
The Indians failed to overcome Smith's debacle, and a grueling, 7-day road trip reached a disheartening conclusion.
Michael Brantley's RBI triple and solo home run helped the Tribe build its 3-0 cushion, but the heroics were not enough to save Tomlin from Joe Smith's failure.
The Rangers' Michael Young collected his 2,000th career base-hit during the game.
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| Tomlin deserved better than a no-decision |
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