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Do IT this week: Layering
Errors help Tribe rally from 7-3 deficit, find victory in ninth inning
By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal sports writer
POSTED: 12:08 a.m. EDT, Apr 29, 2009
CLEVELAND: For a while, quite a while, it seemed as if Tuesday night's game between the Indians and Boston Red Sox might last until dawn, longer if the starting pitchers remained at their posts.
For the first 1 hour, 45 minutes, it wasn't so much a game as a clinic on how not to pitch, or maybe Major League III, with Borat and Al Bundy as rival starting pitchers.
The real starters were Anthony Reyes and Brad Penny, and neither is likely to volunteer the details of this game to their grandchildren (or their agents), who will be forced to learn by other means that the Tribe snapped the Red Sox's 11-game winning streak with a 9-8 victory at Progressive Field.
It finally happened in the ninth on a play that fittingly did in the Red Sox, who committed three errors that cost them four unearned runs.
The ninth began with Mark DeRosa reaching first on a bloop hit off Javier Lopez, the sixth pitcher of the evening for the Red Sox. DeRosa had been in a slump the entire month until the Sox showed up. In addition to the ninth-inning single, he tied the score 8-8 in the seventh with a home run and had two other hits.
Ben Francisco bunted DeRosa to second, but Grady Sizemore struck out on a 3-and-2 pitch from the sidearming lefty, a rare species of pitcher.
That brought up Asdrubal Cabrera, who hit a hard ground ball to first base. Kevin Youkilis had to make a sprawling stop of the ball, but his toss to Lopez covering first easily beat Cabrera. Except that Lopez dropped the ball for an error, and DeRosa scored without drawing a throw.
For the second night in a row, closer Kerry Wood was asked to preserve a tie in the ninth inning. Monday night, he gave up the game-winning home run to Jason Bay, whom he faced again to start the ninth Tuesday night.
This time Bay ''only'' singled, but one out later Jason Varitek singled to right, putting runners on first and third. Wood got out of the jam by striking out Nick Green and retiring Jacoby Ellsbury on a line drive to Cabrera at second.
For Reyes, the start was a disaster from the outset. He gave up one run in the first inning, four more in the second and two in the third before he was relieved of duty by manager Eric Wedge, who summoned Vinnie Chulk from the bullpen with a runner on second and nobody out.
Chulk gave up a hit and a walk in the inning but denied the Red Sox another run. Nevertheless, enough damage had been done, as Reyes gave up seven runs, nine hits and a walk, leaving his team with a 7-3 deficit.
But Penny had yet to fully blossom. Although he throws 94-95-mile-per-hour fastballs, Penny persisted throwing curveball after curveball, several of them hangers high in the strike zone and many more that kicked up dirt.
The Indians should have taken greater advantage of the waist-high breaking pitches, but errors by Mike Lowell at third and Julio Lugo at short in the first three innings compensated for the Tribe's lack of aggressiveness and contributed to three unearned runs.
More than anything, Francisco's three-run homer in the third inning, the Indians' second in a six-game span, lowered the boom on Penny. The home run tied the score 7-7, making it a new game all over again.
It took almost two hours and 193 pitches to complete three innings. To put that in perspective, with Penny retiring eight batters on 89 pitches, he would have thrown 300 for a complete game. Reyes would have had to be even more of a warrior. He needed 76 pitches to retire six batters, a rate that would have produced 342 pitches for a nine-inning game.
The chaos created by the two starters abruptly dissipated when the bullpens took over. Order was restored quickly, and a baseball game broke out.
Not another run was scored until the seventh, when Joe Smith's leadoff walk to Bay turned into an 8-7 Red Sox lead with Lugo's RBI single. But DeRosa whacked his fourth homer of the year off Takashi Saito in the seventh to tie the score.
Sheldon Ocker can be reached at socker@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at http://www.ohio.com/tribematters. Follow the Indians on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ABJ_Indians.
CLEVELAND: For a while, quite a while, it seemed as if Tuesday night's game between the Indians and Boston Red Sox might last until dawn, longer if the starting pitchers remained at their posts.
For the first 1 hour, 45 minutes, it wasn't so much a game as a clinic on how not to pitch, or maybe Major League III, with Borat and Al Bundy as rival starting pitchers.
The real starters were Anthony Reyes and Brad Penny, and neither is likely to volunteer the details of this game to their grandchildren (or their agents), who will be forced to learn by other means that the Tribe snapped the Red Sox's 11-game winning streak with a 9-8 victory at Progressive Field.
It finally happened in the ninth on a play that fittingly did in the Red Sox, who committed three errors that cost them four unearned runs.
The ninth began with Mark DeRosa reaching first on a bloop hit off Javier Lopez, the sixth pitcher of the evening for the Red Sox. DeRosa had been in a slump the entire month until the Sox showed up. In addition to the ninth-inning single, he tied the score 8-8 in the seventh with a home run and had two other hits.
Ben Francisco bunted DeRosa to second, but Grady Sizemore struck out on a 3-and-2 pitch from the sidearming lefty, a rare species of pitcher.
That brought up Asdrubal Cabrera, who hit a hard ground ball to first base. Kevin Youkilis had to make a sprawling stop of the ball, but his toss to Lopez covering first easily beat Cabrera. Except that Lopez dropped the ball for an error, and DeRosa scored without drawing a throw.
For the second night in a row, closer Kerry Wood was asked to preserve a tie in the ninth inning. Monday night, he gave up the game-winning home run to Jason Bay, whom he faced again to start the ninth Tuesday night.
This time Bay ''only'' singled, but one out later Jason Varitek singled to right, putting runners on first and third. Wood got out of the jam by striking out Nick Green and retiring Jacoby Ellsbury on a line drive to Cabrera at second.
For Reyes, the start was a disaster from the outset. He gave up one run in the first inning, four more in the second and two in the third before he was relieved of duty by manager Eric Wedge, who summoned Vinnie Chulk from the bullpen with a runner on second and nobody out.
Chulk gave up a hit and a walk in the inning but denied the Red Sox another run. Nevertheless, enough damage had been done, as Reyes gave up seven runs, nine hits and a walk, leaving his team with a 7-3 deficit.
But Penny had yet to fully blossom. Although he throws 94-95-mile-per-hour fastballs, Penny persisted throwing curveball after curveball, several of them hangers high in the strike zone and many more that kicked up dirt.
The Indians should have taken greater advantage of the waist-high breaking pitches, but errors by Mike Lowell at third and Julio Lugo at short in the first three innings compensated for the Tribe's lack of aggressiveness and contributed to three unearned runs.
More than anything, Francisco's three-run homer in the third inning, the Indians' second in a six-game span, lowered the boom on Penny. The home run tied the score 7-7, making it a new game all over again.
It took almost two hours and 193 pitches to complete three innings. To put that in perspective, with Penny retiring eight batters on 89 pitches, he would have thrown 300 for a complete game. Reyes would have had to be even more of a warrior. He needed 76 pitches to retire six batters, a rate that would have produced 342 pitches for a nine-inning game.
The chaos created by the two starters abruptly dissipated when the bullpens took over. Order was restored quickly, and a baseball game broke out.
Not another run was scored until the seventh, when Joe Smith's leadoff walk to Bay turned into an 8-7 Red Sox lead with Lugo's RBI single. But DeRosa whacked his fourth homer of the year off Takashi Saito in the seventh to tie the score.
Sheldon Ocker can be reached at socker@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at http://www.ohio.com/tribematters. Follow the Indians on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ABJ_Indians.
Comments
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Posted 06:37 AM, 04/29/2009
Tribe gets break! The bullpen shined. Hope this break turns the worm.
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 07:05 AM, 04/29/2009
Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in awhile or the Indians win a ballgame. Still on track for 100 losses this season.
youngstown, oh
Posted 07:36 AM, 04/29/2009
They won't loses 100 games or even close to it. I think they are a 500 team this year. Especially after Westbrook gets back. And don't blame Wedge, they just don't have the starting pitching.
Akron, OH
Posted 07:39 AM, 04/29/2009
OMG you are brutal to us Cleveland fans!! I'm glad they beat the Red Sux though! "Maybe next year"
Akron, Oh
Posted 08:34 AM, 04/29/2009
Great to see Francisco and DeRosa contribute in the clutch. Hopefully now they can relax and settle in.
Canton, OH
Posted 08:51 AM, 04/29/2009
XMas came early. .GREAT GAME !!! Take that, Chowd Fan. . .
Akron, Oh
Posted 09:16 AM, 04/29/2009
@OMG
Wanna put your money where your mouth is on the 100 losses?
cuyahoga falls, oh
Posted 11:42 AM, 04/29/2009
Wedge needs to get over being the veteran player's coach and just manage...why else would anyone leave Reyes in that game after the second inning, let alone the first, unless it came from an unrealistic faith in the veterans to produce, even on an off night? he has cost us game after very important game every season in early and late inings for that very telling reason...this isn't a call to let him go, this is a call to have him asked why he does it...and then being asked to stop.
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Posted 12:08 PM, 04/29/2009
I'm guessing Wedge left Reyes in as to not burn out his bullpen for 7 or 8 innings (AGAIN!). He's probably thinking these starters gotta start pulling some weight or our suspect bullpen will be a suspect BURNT-OUT bullpen by the all-star break. Reyes certainly wasn't sharp, but as important as wins – possibly more so – these starters gotta give this team some innings. And speaking of the pen...
1) it was nice to Rafael Perez come in and not pour gas on the fire for once this April.
2) has Joe Smith had an appearance this year that he didn't walk a guy? Sheesh!
3) 3 more K's from the Sipp kid...hope the vets in the pen are taking notes.
cuyahoga falls, oh
Posted 01:52 PM, 04/29/2009
good points, but when you are a game or so out at the end, these defeats add up...
you play every game to win it. period. and this isn't spring training where we are going to see what happens if we stretch a pitcher out for ectra innings...if the bullpen can't fill the gap, get a new bullpen, but you don't toss games for nonchalant reasons, and that is a wedgie weak point
Paradise, Oh
Posted 02:01 PM, 04/29/2009
Ben Francisco had a terrific ballgame last night.
That means that he will be sitting on the bench and watching tonight's game.
Eric Wedge is from Mars and knows more about baseball than anybody.
cuyahoga falls, oh
Posted 02:39 PM, 04/29/2009
apparently the have a much lighter atmosphere on Mars, and balls tend to carry further there
