Johnson Makes Strong First Impression

Tribe secures second series win with 3-0 win over Twins

Travis Hafner’s second-inning homerun was all Jason Johnson needed to secure his first victory in an Indians uniform Saturday afternoon at Jacobs Field. Hafner sent Scott Baker’s worst pitch of the day, a change up that stayed at the letters, deep into the right field seats. Hafner would go on to double and single, and is currently sitting on ten straight plate appearances in which he has reached base safely.

Casey Blake continued his torrid start at the plate by singling three times, most notably a key two out single in the 4th, plating Ben Broussard. Blake’s knock came after a disastrous at-bat from newly annointed utility infielder Ramon Vasquez. A day after his competition for the final roster spot was sent to Cincinnati, Vasquez let second and third strike fastballs go by without a swing with a runner on third and one out.

Despite the offensive achievements, Johnson was the story today. He did nothing to disprove his label of being an innings eater as he scattered just four hits over seven productive innings. With good stuff today and a command for all of his pitches, Johnson was able to induce lazy fly ball after weak ground ball. He needed just 86 pitches to get through seven frames.

Other than Vasquez, the only real black cloud on the day for Tribe fans was getting to see 2 2/3 innings of Francisco Liriano. The hard throwing lefty will be tough on the central division for years to come.

Guillermo Mota and Bob Wickman were effective in preserving the shutout for Johnson. The Tribe will look for an early season sweep of the Twins tomorrow, but they will have their hands full. Jake Westbrook takes the hill against former Cy-Young winner Johan Santana.

Apr 08, 2006 7:00 PM

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Johnson Makes Strong First Impression

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