Home runs once again plague Tomlin

CLEVELAND — As soon as the baseball left Josh Tomlin’s hand, he knew he made a mistake. The Indians pitcher intended to send the cutter diving far inside to slugger David Ortiz, but the ball betrayed the right-hander and headed right for the heart of the plate.

Ortiz did what he has now done 530 times throughout his career. Big Papi drilled the mistake into the seats and then completed a slow trot around the bases. The two-run homer ignited a three-run outburst for the Red Sox in the sixth inning on Monday, creating enough damage to put Tomlin’s outing under the microscope after a 3-2 loss for the Indians.

Asked if he was happy Ortiz was calling it a career, Tomlin managed a slight smirk.

“I am now, yeah,” Tomlin said.

There were two primary factors at play in this defeat for the American League Central-leading Indians.

The first was an issue that has plagued Tomlin throughout his career. The righty has always been prone to home runs, and the two he surrendered in the sixth — one to Ortiz and another to Jackie Bradley Jr. — were ill-timed enough to trip up the Tribe. Tomlin now leads the Majors this year with 29 home runs allowed and a rate of 1.9 homers per nine innings.

More detrimental to Cleveland’s chances, however, was the fact that the offense did little against Red Sox lefty Drew Pomeranz. The inability to manufacture runs against the former Tribe farmhand turned a respectable outing from Tomlin …

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