Indians Twitter jumps to conclusions after familiar name responds to 9th-inning meltdown

Tom Gatto

Indians Twitter jumps to conclusions after familiar name responds to 9th-inning meltdown image

It appeared Tuesday that some NBA-style, Kyrie-vs.-LeBron Twitter pettiness was breaking out after the Indians' bullpen had a ninth-inning meltdown. By one account, a former Tribe reliever was taking a dig at his ex-mates.

Whoops, wait, sorry, put those typing thumbs down. Wrong guy.

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First, the background: Cleveland lost 7-4 to the Reds after giving up all of Cincinnati's runs with two outs in the top of the ninth. Closer Cody Allen was the main culprit.

Zack Meisel, Indians reporter for The Athletic, tweeted this postgame update:

That was followed by what people thought was a salty response: 

Bryan Shaw? Hmmmmm. He was a bullpen workhorse in Cleveland for a bunch of years before signing with the Rockies for a lot of money in the offseason. Now he's hurt after being ineffective . . .

Fans in Northeast Ohio know where this is going. See, there's also a Bryan Shaw who's a Cleveland weatherman, and, well . . .

Yep, him. For the record, Shaw the pitcher was watching the Rockies play the Diamondbacks at Coors Field.

Before Tribe Twitter felt the disappointment, it felt the rage and was there for the potential drama:

It did have a legit topic about which to hate-type, though: Manager Terry Francona and pitching coach Carl Willis had a dugout miscommunication and the wrong reliever (Dan Otero instead of Oliver Perez) came in to face Joey Votto in the ninth.

Votto delivered a bases-loaded double to give the Reds the lead.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.