Indians 3, Astros 2: Houston bats go cold in Cleveland

It's wasn't a good night for the Astros bats. Houston failed to register a single hit after the third inning. Maybe they forgot to pack their hats for their bats to keep them warm in chilly Cleveland?

More likely, it was just the fact the Indians pitching staff was dealing. Starter Danny Salazar struck out seven and walked two over six innings. Cleveland's bullpen pitched three scoreless innings. The runs the Astros did score came on a throwing error in the third. Rightfielder Chris Dickerson fielded a cue shot from Jose Altuve,  and fired a throw to home to try to get Jake Marisnick rounding third. Marisnick had singled earlier and moved to second on Robbie Grossman walk. Indians catcher Roberto Perez had a chance to get Marisnick but failed to field the ball - allowing both Marisnick and Grossman to score as the ball skipped to the backstop.

As for the Astros pitchers, Collin McHugh struggled and battled all night. The Indians collected hits in the first four innings of the game. But, the troubles for McHugh didn't start till the third. Cleveland strung together a Jose Ramirez double and a Michael Brantley single for their first run of the game - all with two outs. McHugh wasn't able to cover the bag and field the throw from the shifted Jose Altuve in shallow right field, allowing Carlos Santana to reach base.McHugh would walk Jason Kipnis to load the bases, but worked out of the jam with a ground out from Zach Walters.

The Indians would tie the game in the fourth. Lonnie Chisenhall and Chris Dickerson lead off the inning with singles. Roberto Perez bunted the runners over, and former Astros Michael Bourn grounded into a fielder's choice to score Chisenhall.

The Indians would threaten again in the eight, but Jose Veras (who also created the storm) and Tony Sipp weathered the storm. With runners on the corners as the result of a throwing error from Jose Altuve, Zach Walters grounded to Marwin Gonzalez. Gonzalez threw out Carlos Santana at home to end the threat.

Cleveland failed to get the go-ahead run in the eighth, but were able to get in the ninth. Jake Buchanan came into pitch for the Astros, and Tyler Holt welcomed him with a leadoff single. Roberto Perez bunted him over to second, and Michael Bourn walked. They both moved up a base with a wild pitch. On the six pitch Indians shortstop Jose Ramirez faced, he laced single to left to score the winning run. Drat!