TORONTO — At lunchtime, in advance of Game 4 of the ALCS, the Cleveland Indians announced that World Series tickets would be going on sale Wednesday morning.
You could hardly blame the team executives for wanting to get out in front of MLB’s showcase event. No doubt they anticipated unprecedented demand for tickets—unprecedented this season, that is, given that Clevelanders have stayed away in droves, averaging under 20,000 a game, 28th in the majors.
The World Series ticket sale almost certainly didn’t serve as motivation for the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday afternoon, no more than crates of champagne chilling outside the visitors’ dressing room at Rogers Centre. Stuff like that might aggravate fans but players don’t think that way. They understand that’s just how things are done when you have a three-zip lead in a best-of-seven series.
And ditto, the Indians weren’t pre-occupied with getting comped ducats in order for the 2016 Fall Classic before taking the field for Tuesday afternoon. Again, players don’t think that way and if those in the Cleveland clubhouse were even a little inclined to do that, manager Terry Francona would have headed it off.
The final score — Toronto 5, Cleveland 1 — falls into the category of a comfortable win. It’s not quite one-sided enough to be labelled a laugher and the margin is a little too large to be called a nail-biter.
The record will also show that the Jays limited the Indians to two hits, a pretty comprehensive shutdown job and yet that count doesn’t fully capture the run of play. It might understate it.
Consider: the top of the Cleveland lineup, Carlos Santana at leadoff, Jason Kipnis batting second, Francisco Lindor slotted third and Mike Napoli as cleanup, combined for 16 plate appearances in Game 4. They went hitless, which is no big stretch, given the box score. They combined for four strikeouts, again not a number that surprises. Only Napoli managed to get on base, working a full count for a leadoff walk in the second inning. Only Lindor managed to get a ball out of the infield: a fly ball to Kevin Pillar in centre in his last at-bat against Aaron Sanchez.
"Sanchez had a great game," Lindor said in the clubhouse after the game. "I tip my hat to him."
Mixed among those infield outs, however, was a foot or so away of being a game changing third hit. In the fifth inning, catcher Roberto Perez, Cleveland’s No. 9 hitter, hit a high Sanchez fastball off the wall for a double that drove in outfielder Coco Crisp from second and brought the Indians to within a run at 2-1. Then Santana lined a one-hopper that looked like it was going to find the hole between third and short and tie the game. Josh Donaldson made the critical defensive play of the game when he dove to snag Santana’s shot, which by itself saved a run, and then scrambled to his feet to throw to first to get Sanchez out of the inning.
In Game 4, Cleveland lost for the first time in the post-season but it cannot be said that the top of the Indians’ batting order has been a difference-maker. The aforementioned hitters Nos. 1 through 4 aren’t what you’d expect for a team that’s one win away from the World Series.
The hard numbers through seven playoff games:
Santana has an average of .160 and a .250 OBA, Kipnis .190 and .250 again, Lindor .259 and .286, and Napoli .167, .231, respectively. Projecting off those numbers in a vacuum you’d presume that it would be Cleveland either facing elimination or already making off-season plans. It’s a testament the Central Division champs’ ability to eke out the narrowest of wins, which they did in their three games against Boston in the ALDS and in the first three against the Jays.
One of the major factors in those six consecutive post-season wins was the Cleveland’s redoubtable defence. Through that stretch the Indians were errorless in the field. The streak was broken in Game 4 on a misplay that gave the Jays needed breathing room in the seventh inning. Reliever Bryan Shaw first gave up a single to Ryan Goins and faced Jose Bautista who has had his own struggles at the top of the Toronto order. Bautista topped a 45-foot four-hopper down the third-base line that Shaw nervously scrambled to cover. His throw to Napoli at first was so wild that fans in the fifth row thought they had a better play on than left fielder Lonnie Chisenhall backing up the play.
The error made it runners at first and third with none out. Terry Francona decided to intentionally walk the hot-hitting Donaldson to pitch to Edwin Encarnacion. Maybe it was the right decision despite the outcome, an Encarnacion single with two RBI that made the score 4-1 and broke the tense affair slightly open.
As of Tuesday night, the Indians made no further announcements regarding World Series tickets nor any ducats that they might release for Games 6 and 7 of the ALCS.