WINNING THE CLOSE ONES: The Indians are now 14-10 in one-run games and 4-3 in extra innings.
HOT HAFNER: Travis Hafner is averaging a home run every 14.4 at-bats and an RBI every 4.5 at-bats. Putting that into context, Asdrubal Cabrera, who leads the team in homers and RBI, is averaging a home run every 25.1 at-bats and an RBI every seven at-bats.
ALL-TIME TOTALS: The Indians’ all-time record against Pittsburgh improved to 15-15, while their mark against Colorado dropped to 8-10.
THE MAGIC IS BACK: When Cord Phelps delivered Sunday’s victory with his first career homer, it was the Indians’ first walk-off victory since Travis Hafner’s miracle bomb on May 13 and their first win in their last at-bat since May 23. The Tribe now has 13 wins in its last at-bat and five walk-off wins on the season.
ANOTHER SWEEP: The dusting of the Pirates marked the Indians’ seventh series sweep of 2011. A year ago they totaled five sweeps for the entire season.
MORE BAD LUCK: Justin Masterson’s puzzling winless string has now reached 10 straight starts and he hasn’t won a game since April 26. In those 10 games, Masterson’s ERA is 3.68 and the Indians averaged scoring 2.2 runs per game. The Tribe is 3-7 in Masterson's last 10 starts.
PUSHING BACK THE PIRATES: Since sweeping the Pirates in 2000, the Indians had struggled against Pittsburgh, losing 10 of their last 15 meetings over the past 10 seasons. The teams hadn’t played in Cleveland since 2006.
STANDING UP TO THE SENIOR CIRCUIT: The Indians’ interleague record for the season moved to 7-2 - they’ve already collected more victories against National League teams than they did all of last season, when they scuffled to a 5-13 interleague record.
DRY SPELL: Friday and Saturday marked the first time the Indians had won back-to-back home games in four weeks, since defeating the Reds and Red Sox May 22-23.
SECOND VERSE SAME AS THE FIRST: Friday and Saturday’s victories by the identical count of 5-1 marked the first time the Indians had won back-to-back games by the same score since June 7-9, 2009, when they beat the White Sox and Royals both by the count of 8-4.
AT LEAST SOMEBODY CAN: Over the weekend the Indians collected more wins over a Pittsburgh team than the Browns have in the last 10 years.
BUTTS IN THE SEATS: The attendance total for the Pittsburgh series of 100,437 was the best tally for any series at Progressive Field this season, topping the Cincinnati series (99,086). They’re now ranked 11th in the American League in home attendance.
QUALITY: Over the six-game interleague homestand, Indians’ starting pitchers combined for four “quality” starts (at least 6 IP, no more than 3 ER), bringing their season total to 41. Here’s how they break down by pitcher:
Tomlin 11
Masterson 11
Carrasco 7
Carmona 6
Talbot 4
White 2
MORE QUALITY: Carlos Carrasco continued his impressive string on Saturday, notching his third straight quality start and fourth in his last five outings. His string of consecutive scoreless innings ended at 22. Over his last three starts, he has an ERA of 0.42, and over his last five starts, an ERA of 1.87.
MORE FAUSTO FRUSTRATION: Over his last seven starts, Fausto Carmona is 1-6 with an ERA of 9.73. His last quality start was May 8. His season ERA is now a putrid 6.17.
BULLPEN MAFIA STRIKES AGAIN: The bullpen extended its string of consecutive innings without permitted an earned run to 23.1 before Chris Perez allowed the game-winning homer on Tuesday. The string covered 10 games.
ROCKIE JINX SNAPPED: Wednesday marked the Indians’ first win over Colorado since June 16, 2005. The Rockies had won five straight meetings.
TURNING A CORNER?: During the home stand, the Indians averaged 4.8 runs per game. Over the previous 14 games, they’d averaged only 2.1.
PROGRESS REPORT: The Indians are averaging 4.4 runs per game and allowing 4.3. Their team batting average is .251 (10th in the AL) and team ERA is 3.93 (seventh in the AL).
A YEAR AGO: After 73 games in 2010, the Indians stood at 26-47, last place in the AL Central, 14.5 games back of the first-place Twins.
PITTSBURGH SERIES BY THE NUMBERS:
The Indians outscored the Pirates, 15-4 - two of the Indians’ runs were unearned. The Pirates committed two errors and the Indians committed one.
Overall Hitting
Pittsburgh 21 for 106 (.198), 7 walks
Cleveland 26 for 100 (.260), 10 walks
With Runners in Scoring Position
Pittsburgh 3 for 17 (.177), 23 left on base
Cleveland 7 for 24 (.292), 21 left on base
Extra-Base Hits
Pittsburgh 4 (0 HR)
Cleveland 11 (4 HR)
Overall Pitching
Pittsburgh 26.1 IP, 26 H, 10 BB, 17 SO, 13 ER, 4.44 ERA
Cleveland 29 IP, 21 H, 7 BB, 25 SO, 4 ER, 1.24 ERA
Starting Pitchers
Pittsburgh 0-2; 19 IP, 16 H, 7 BB, 9 SO, 6 ER, 2.84 ERA
Cleveland 2-0; 18 IP, 17 H, 2 BB, 14 SO, 4 ER, 2.00 ERA
Relief Pitchers
Pittsburgh 0-1; 7.1 IP, 10 H, 3 BB, 8 SO, 7 ER, 8.60 ERA
Cleveland 1-0; 11 IP, 4 H, 5 BB, 11 SO, 0 ER, 0.00 ERA
COLORADO SERIES BY THE NUMBERS:
The Rockies outscored the Indians, 15-14 - one of the Rockies’ runs was unearned. The Indians committed one error.
Overall Hitting
Colorado 29 for 105 (.276), 6 walks
Cleveland 25 for 98 (.255), 15 walks
With Runners in Scoring Position
Colorado 9 for 22 (.409), 15 left on base
Cleveland 9 for 25 (.360), 21 left on base
Extra-Base Hits
Colorado 9 (5 HR)
Cleveland 8 (3 HR)
Overall Pitching
Colorado 26 IP, 25 H, 15 BB, 25 SO, 14 ER, 4.85 ERA
Cleveland 27 IP, 29 H, 6 BB, 19 SO, 14 ER, 4.67 ERA
Starting Pitchers
Colorado 0-1; 17.1 IP, 14 H, 13 BB, 17 SO, 11 ER, 5.71 ERA
Cleveland 1-1; 17.1 IP, 22 H, 4 BB, 5 SO, 13 ER, 6.75 ERA
Relief Pitchers
Colorado 2-0, 2 saves; 8.2 IP, 11 H, 2 BB, 8 SO, 3 ER, 3.11 ERA
Cleveland 1 save; 9.2 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 14 SO, 1 ER, 0.93 ERA
UP NEXT:
at San Francisco Giants [41-34]
(Friday 10:15 p.m.; Saturday 9:05 p.m.; Sunday 4:05 p.m.)
Probable Starters:
Carrasco (7-3, 3.87 ERA); Masterson (5-5, 3.18 ERA); Carmona (4-9, 6.17 ERA)
Last year: Did not play - the Giants won two of three in their last meeting in 2008.
at Arizona Diamondbacks [41-34]
(Monday 9:40 p.m.; Tuesday 9:40 p.m.; Wednesday 3:40 p.m.)
Probable Starters:
Talbot (2-4, 4.91 ERA); Tomlin (9-4, 3.95); Carrasco
Last year: Did not play - the Indians swept a three-game series in their last meeting in 2005.