Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder Josh Harrison (left) steals second base ahead of a tag attempt by Cleveland Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis during their game in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Sunday. (USA TODAY Sports)

By Ryan Lewis/The Akron Beacon Journal (TNS)


Everything was going so well for the Indians and then things turned very bad very quickly in a 5-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.
The Indians jumped on Pirates ace Gerrit Cole early, taking a 3-0 lead after the third. Danny Salazar was lights-out through the first four innings, striking out seven and allowing only one hit.
Then the bottom of the fifth came along, and things fell apart. Jung Ho Kang opened the inning with a single. Salazar then got ahead of Pedro Alvarez and tried to blow a high fastball by him but it caught too much of the zone and Alvarez got all of it for a two-run home run, slicing into the Indians’ lead.
Chris Stewart and Josh Harrison followed with singles, setting the table for Neil Walker, who tied the game 3-3 with an RBI single to left field. One pitch later, Andrew McCutchen blasted a double off the wall in center field, putting the Pirates (47-34) ahead 5-3.
“It wasn’t a big difference,” Salazar said of his fifth inning compared to the first four. “I think I made some good pitches and they got on base with it. I followed [the] game plan. The pitches they hit, those were pitches I wanted to throw there. Except for McCutchen, that changeup didn’t break too much. Sometimes, a game will turn around just like [that].”
From there, Cole returned to his Cy Young candidate form, shutting the Indians down through the eighth inning. Mark Melancon came on in the ninth and earned his 27th save of the season.
“We were in a pretty good spot,” Indians manager Terry Francona said of the fifth inning. “In a National League game, they were down there and you could see over there, they’re thinking about possibly going to the bullpen because they might have to. As soon as Alvarez hit that home run, that ended that. And they tacked onto it from there.”
The Indians (38-43) end their 10-game road trip at 5-5. Three losses to start it in Baltimore and two in Pittsburgh sandwiched five straight wins in Tampa Bay and the opener in Pittsburgh on Friday.
“The way it started, pretty happy, if you’re going off the Baltimore series, [getting back to] .500,” Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis said. “I think we have a better idea of what kind of baseball we need to play to win games. Pittsburgh is a good team. We’re not going to hang our heads just because we lost this series. I think we’re figuring it out and playing better baseball. We’re going to need more wins coming down the road here.”
The Indians return home for a seven-game home stand against Houston and Oakland before heading into the All-Star break.