CLEVELAND — Down 2-0 in the ALDS to the world-champion Astros, the Indians believe they have learned valuable lessons that can turn the tide the Tribe’s way.
Of course, that’s what teams on the brink always say. Game 3 will be Monday at Progressive Field. The Indians need to at least show some life.
At Minute Maid Park, the Astros hit .333 in the first two games with five home runs and three doubles. The Tribe didn’t pack their bats. They had six hits, five singles and a Francisco Lindor solo home run.
Marwin Gonzalez had more hits (four) than the Indians in the Astros’ 3-1 win on Saturday.
Mike Clevinger will start for the Indians on Monday against the surgical lefty, Dallas Keuchel. Asked what he has learned from the first two games, Clevinger said Sunday, “There’s a few things. But something that’s kind of eye-opening is how often they capitalize on mistake pitches. You don’t see a lineup top to bottom really be able to do that every time you make a mistake.’’
The Astros pride themselves on being strong 1-through-9 and as the irrepressible Alex Bregman said, they will remain focused to try to close the deal.
“I think it’s important that we keep our foot on the gas, show up and compete from pitch one and try to win the next pitch,” Bregman said. “You can’t look forward. As far as we’re all concerned, we want to win on Monday.’’
Clevinger knows what the Indians are up against.
“We know this could be our last game if we don’t show up,’’ he said. “Everyone is going to leave what they have out there, and that’s going to be good to see at home.’’
The Indians have to do to the Astros what the Yankees did to them last year in the ALDS, win two straight at home and then find a way to win Game 5 on the road.
“I think that’s kind of been the trend of our team too,’’ Clevinger said. “We might have had some little, cold stretches where we weren’t putting pieces together, but the second we got that good team win and that good roll, it seemed like no matter who came around us, we were going to beat them. Just getting that good team win at home [Monday] could steamroll this into something special.’’
Manager Terry Francona has to get his Indians into comeback mode, like his Red Sox did against the Yankees in 2004 in the shocking ALCS. That’s a tall order because these Astros are loaded.
“I understand that the odds start to go not in your favor,’’ Francona said. “But been on both sides of this, and come back and had people come back on us. Rather than spend a ton of time thinking about all that, we need to figure out a way to beat them, because the first two games, they’ve really kind of had their way with us. We need to change that.’’
