McAllister’s trusty fastball wavers vs. O’s

CLEVELAND — Zach McAllister turned on the mound and expected to see the fly ball tailing and falling into the glove of Indians right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall. Instead, the reliever wore a look of disbelief as the baseball carried just over the right-field wall down the line.

Orioles slugger Mark Trumbo settled into a home run trot after that seventh-inning meeting of strength and luck on Friday night, dealing the critical blow in a 6-4 loss for the Indians at Progressive Field. On this evening, McAllister’s bread-and-butter pitch betrayed him against a team that knows precisely what to do when a fastball is not up to snuff.

“The fastballs cost me today,” McAllister said.

Cleveland headed into the seventh inning caught in a 3-3 deadlock with Baltimore, following a slow-and-steady comeback from a three-run hole in the first. Indians manager Terry Francona handed the ball to McAllister, who has mostly been a reliable setup man for that particular inning, posting a 2.87 ERA in his 19 appearances leading up to Friday’s game.

Even with Baltimore’s reputation for hunting fastballs effectively, Francona liked the way things were stacking up. McAllister, who relies heavily on a four-seamer, was set to face the heart of the Orioles’ order. That includes Manny Machado, Chris Davis and Trumbo — a trio that had gone 4-for-23 (.174 average) combined against the big hard-throwing …

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