Tom Williams: Tribe says goodbye too early

Twenty-four hours after the Browns had this town buzzing with renewed hopes and dreams, the Cleveland Indians collapsed with a dreadful performance.

In a must-win game, the Indians’ flaws were exposed on the mound and at the plate.

Sunday night, I’d never seen so many patrons at Playhouse Square’s State Theater wearing Browns apparel and huge smiles because of the 12-9 overtime win over the Baltimore Ravens.

The enthusiasm carried over to the 37,252 fans who filled Progressive Field for Monday’s matinee.

But by Monday evening, disappointment in another Indians postseason failure filled the air.

Sports truly can be like riding a roller coaster.

The Indians’ bullpen gets much of the blame for the three-game sweep by the Houston Astros, and it’s not like it isn’t deserved. But to be fair only Francisco Lindor showed much success at the plate against the Houston Astros’ tremendous pitching.

“That Lindor-[Michael] Brantley-[Jose] Ramirez-[Edwin] Encarnacion top four is as good as anybody’s,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “And controlling that group ... was important.”

Lindor batted .364 for the series, homering twice. Brantley, a potential free agent, batted .200, 200 points better than Ramirez and 100 more than Encarnacion.

There is no shame in losing to the Astros, even if the defending World Series champions engineered a sweep.

But it’s not easy finding positives going forward when Indians relievers in Monday’s do-or-die ALDS Game 3 gave up 10 runs after the sixth inning.

The Indians had no trouble winning their third straight American League Central Division title. In the postgame press conference, Indians manager Terry Francona was asked if the combined weakness of division rivals Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals masked flaws.

Francona didn’t take the bait.

“When all is said and done, that’s not why we lost,” Francona said. “Houston outplayed us, and that’s why they’re moving on.

“It has nothing to do with what we did in September or April or May or June.

“They just outplayed us.”

He’s not wrong. Marwin Gonzalez, whose two-run double put the Astros ahead 4-2, batted .538. Alex Bregman hit .556 and George Springer hit.419 with three homers.

But something happened in August that did affect the Indians. Certainly their worst break came on Aug. 11 when the White Sox’s Jose Abreu hit a line drive into Trevor Bauer’s right leg right above the ankle. The Indians starter suffered a broken fibula.

For this series, Bauer’s role was as a reliever.

With the Indians ahead 2-1, Bauer replaced starter Mike Clevinger in the sixth inning. Clevinger had done well, allowing the Astros just one run on George Springer’s first homer of the day. That came in the fifth inning, tying the game at 1-1.

Clevinger limited the Astros’ sizzling bats to three hits. With nine strikeouts, Clevinger set the franchise record for an Indians pitcher making his first postseason start.

But he was gassed in the unseasonably warm temperatures.

Bauer got through the sixth inning but his two throwing errors in the seventh inning helped the Astros score three runs.

The once-reliable Andrew Miller and Cody Allen came on, each lasting just one out.

The Astros scored six runs in the eighth inning and Progressive Field emptied out almost as fast if a fire drill had been ordered.

When the fans next return, it won’t be the same.

“We’ve got number of guys who are free agents,” Francona said. “You know there’s going to be some turnover.

“So that’s a hard one, when you’re saying goodbye before you are ready to.”

Tom Williams is a sportswriter at The Vindicator. Write him at williams@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @Williams_Vindy.