As we discussed on Monday afternoon, the Cleveland Indians used an odd approach to the first game of their four-game series with the Houston Astros on Monday night at Progressive Field. Cleveland manager Terry Francona dubbed it a “bullpen day,” and used eight pitchers in total.
While in theory this idea goes along with the direction the game is headed thanks to advanced stats and copious new amounts of data thanks to Statcast and PITCHf/x, the execution of the Indians’ adventure in bullpenning still needs some refining, as they fell by a score of 6-2.
Mike Clevinger got the start, slated for around 50 pitches, and lasted just 1.