Category: Cleveland Indians (Page 20 of 96)

Jeremy Sowers overcame a tough first few innings but managed to settle down and get his sixth win of the season as the Tribe beat the Tigers 4-2. The rookie, who won his third straight start, gave up two runs and four hits in the second inning but pitched well the rest of the game and got enough support from his offense. Jhonny Peralta, Shin-Soo Choo, Joe Inglett, and Victor Martinez all contributed RBIs for the Tribe. After they led 4-2 after three, the Indians left it up to Sowers and the bullpen, who all did their job in shutting down the Tigers’ lineup.

Fernando Cabrera relieved Sowers to pitch two scoreless innings, including four strikeouts, and Rafael Betancourt pitched the ninth to get the save. Between the two, they did not allow a hit in three innings. Pretty impressive considering how dreadful the Tribe’s bullpen has been this season.

The Indians toyed with the idea of more late-inning drama Thursday night but pulled away for an 8-4 victory over the Royals. The win gave the Tribe a series victory and ended a nine-game road trip. Losers of three of their first four, they were able to turn it around and concluded their trip on a winning note, going 5-4. Starter C.C Sabathia put his team on his back and earned the victory. He went eight innings, allowed three earned runs, and threw 120 pitches as he got his ninth win of the season. With the game tied at four in the eighth, Andy Marte doubled in the go-ahead run. Victor Martinez and Ryan Garko each homered in the ninth to put the game to rest. Marte, in one of his best games since joining the major league club, went 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI.

This is what we need to be seeing from this kid. He’s young, inexperienced, and is still learning, but it’s important for him to put together a solid September. After all, he was the #6 prospect in all of baseball at the start of the season.

After the first inning Wednesday night, the Indians seemed to be dead in the water. However, they battled back and amazingly beat the Royals 15-13 in a crazy, extra-inning affair. The Royals scored 10 in the first off Paul Byrd, who didn’t make it out of the inning. A catching error by Ryan Garko set up the wild inning. It would get much crazier from there.

The Indians put up runs from the third to the sixth to cut the lead to 10-9. The Royals scored three more in the bottom of the sixth but that would be it for the night. The Tribe pen held them scoreless the rest of the way. Three doubles and a triple in the top of the ninth helped the Indians tie the game. RBI singles by Garko and Hector Luna, who finished with four hits and four RBI on the night, gave them the lead in the tenth and Tom Mastny closed it out for his second save of the season.

Cabrera, Betancourt, and Mastny came in and finally gave the Indians some long-awaited late-inning bullpen help. The game looked to be over twice, after the first and after the sixth, but the Tribe just kept pounding and somehow found a way to win in dramatic comeback fashion.

One bad throw by Victor Martinez and another shaky job by the bullpen ruined a good outing by Cliff Lee and cost the Indians the game as they lost 5-2 to the Royals. With the game tied at two in the sixth, Marinez airmailed a ball over Andy Marte’s head as Mark Teahen was trying to steal third. The error enabled the Royals to take a one-run lead and they tacked on two more in the eighth off relievers Brian Sikorski and Andrew Brown. Teahen had a monster night, going 4-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI. Cliff Lee pitched decent, allowing three runs and striking out five in six innings, but was tagged with his first career loss in Kansas City. The Tribe got their runs on a Martinez groundout in the first and a Ryan Garko sacrifice fly in the sixth. Travis Hafner added three hits, including two doubles.

Get used to seeing several Triple-A no-namers coming out of the bullpen for the Indians. With September call-ups approaching, where teams can expand their rosters, who knows who will be making appearances down the stretch.

A five-run sixth inning helped propel the Indians over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays by a score of 9-4 Sunday afternoon. Four of those runs came off the bat of Jhonny Peralta, who belted a grand slam. Quite unexpected for a guy who last homered on July 13.

“I saw the bases were loaded,” Peralta said, “and I thought, ‘A grand slam would not be too bad right here.'”

Travis Hafner and Ryan Garko also went deep as every Indian hitter got a hit in the game. Kelly Shoppach continues to hit the ball well, going 3-for-5 with two RBI. Jake Westbrook went seven innings and got his 10th win of the season for the Indians. The Indians were able to recover nicely from a disasterous Friday and pulled out two straight victories.