For reasons beyond baseball, the Cleveland Indians came into one of their most important games of the season at a major disadvantage. Instead of Carlos Carrasco taking the mound to help them climb out of a double-digit hole in the standings to the Twins, the Tribe were left with an impromptu bullpen day against the best offense in baseball.
All things considered, it could have been a lot worse than winning 9-7 at 12:20 in the morning. A lot worse.
This wasn't an opener situation, where the manager is using his best reliever up front to tackle the three best hitters on the team.