Like in game one, Adrian Beltre was out for this game still resting, but
would pinch hit late in the game. The game before he just missed a HR
in the 9th when Choo leaped against the RF wall to prevent a big hit.
This game, Beltre would walk to the plate with 2 on in the 11th, and he
didn't hit it close to an Indians fielder. In fact he hit it so far off
the reservation, that I didn't even see the white ball come down from
the air. It's listed as a 454ft HR, but I really saw Brantley run to
the wall, looking at the trees behind CF, and never saw a ball land. It
is still flying I am pretty sure. Needless to say the Rangers won game
two 5-2 in 11 innings.
The pitching did its part yet again holding the Rangers to just 5 runs
in 11 innings. However, Derek Holland has a mean moustache, and as you
probably guessed, pitchers with mustaches just pitch better(see: Carl
Pavano w/ Stache vs. Pavano w/o Stache). The Indians were shut down by
Holland for 7 innings. Really the only people to get hits in 7 innings
was Michael Brantley and the A-Cab. A lot of Indians hit the ball hard,
but this game was defined by great defense on both sides. Derek Lowe
should have allowed a lot more runs, but the Manahan and A-Cab made
great plays all night. Dives, turning 2, and filling the gaps in the
infield. The only bad play was potentially by A-Cab in the 11th when he
had a chance to turn 2, but had to leap over the runner sliding into 2nd
and couldn't get a grip on the ball to attempt a throw. Tough play to
make so I am not pinning the loss on that at all, but when you have a
great defensive shortstop you can get spoiled to those plays being made
on a regular and clutch basis(See:Omar Vizquel). Either way we saw the
Rangers stud SS show off his range all night. He made several plays in
the holes between 2nd and 3rd, and ranged past 2B to make several outs
on grounders too.
So the hitters didn't have their best game ever, but Kipnis extended his
hitting streak and A-Cab started to sizzle. We have now seen two
straight times that Santana plays 1B rather than DH during his day off
from catching. My assumption that this is happening for two reasons.
First, Johnny Damon has also gotten a start at DH, and 2nd is that
Grimmace is really struggling offensively. Lately he has put together
some better A.Bs, but he is still hitting below .160. Lou Marson looked
like a guy who has had only 13 A.Bs all season.
The pitching was phenomenal again. Derek Lowe didn't have his best
stuff and still managed to escape allowing only 2 runs to the Rangers
lineup. Joe Smith made one bad pitch in his 2nd inning of work out of
the bullpen, and Nick Hagadone shut down the Rangers for 2 innings.
Pitching wasn't the issue, the issue comes down to the Indians not
capitalizing on offense and leaving runners stranded when they had
scoring opportunities. Pronk was up twice with RISP, but he went 0-2 as
he is in his first slump of the season. Shelley Duncan is also
slumping, but didn't really cost us any runs today.
Indians made two transactions too. They traded OF Ryan Spilborghs to
the Rangers for cash considerations. Then they acquired RHP Loek Van
Mil from the Dodgers and he will be assigned to Single A.
Hitters AB R H RBI BB SO #P AVG OBP SLG
M Brantley CF 5 1 2 0 0 1 23 .247 .305 .340
J Kipnis 2B 5 1 1 0 0 1 17 .296 .364 .510
A Cabrera SS 5 0 4 1 0 0 16 .333 .407 .543
C Santana 1B 4 0 0 0 1 3 23 .247 .387 .424
T Hafner DH 4 0 0 0 1 1 16 .263 .408 .434
S Choo RF 5 0 1 0 0 0 17 .211 .333 .316
S Duncan LF 3 0 0 0 0 2 11 .222 .341 .375
a-J Damon PH-LF 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .154 .214 .385
J Hannahan 3B 3 0 0 0 1 0 19 .293 .379 .440
L Marson C 4 0 0 0 0 3 16 .063 .211 .125
Totals 39 2 8 1 3 11 160
a-popped out to third for S Duncan in the 9th
BATTING
2B: M Brantley (7, D Holland); A Cabrera (8, M Adams)
RBI: A Cabrera (9)
GIDP: L Marson, J Hannahan
Indians RISP: 1-8 (S Choo 0-1, C Santana 0-2, A Cabrera 1-1, J Kipnis
0-1, T Hafner 0-3)
Team LOB: 7
FIELDING
DP: 3 (A Cabrera-C Santana 2, S Choo-C Santana).
Outfield Assist: S Choo (E Andrus at 1st base).
Cleveland Indians
Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR PC-ST ERA
D Lowe 6.0 9 2 2 2 1 0 104-58 2.39
N Hagadone 2.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 18-13 1.23
V Pestano 1.0 1 0 0 0 2 0 17-14 2.13
J Smith
(L, 1-1) 2.0 1 3 3 3 0 1 32-16 3.07
Totals 11.0 12 5 5 5 4 1 171-101
PITCHING
IBB: M Moreland (By J Smith)
First-pitch strikes/Batters faced: D Lowe 10/27; N Hagadone 3/6; V
Pestano 4/4; J Smith 5/9
Called strikes-Swinging strikes-Foul balls-In Play strikes: D Lowe
12-7-15-24; N Hagadone 3-2-3-5; V Pestano 4-4-4-2; J Smith 8-0-2-6
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: D Lowe 16-1; N Hagadone 2-2; V Pestano 0-1; J
Smith 3-2
Game Scores: D Lowe 45
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