SSDD for the Indians in the series opener against the Yankees. A bad start, no offense, guys with no business having good offensive days going off, and the secondary guys out of the bullpen struggling to give the Indians a chance to come back. Another painful game came to a close with the Indians on the very short end, 7-1.
Hiroki Kuroda threw a gem in his first career start against the Indians and looked unhittable right from the first inning while Josh Tomlin had another poor outing. Then again, Josh Tomlin could have thrown seven shutout innings and still left with a no-decision. Hide the women and children before you read the details of this one.
Hiroki Kuroda set the Indians down 1-2-3 in the first inning after Raul Ibanez’s baby giraffe impression on Shin-Soo Choo’s leadoff fly ball to left just barely kept the Indians from starting the game off on a positive zone. Asdrubal Cabrera struck out and Jason Kipnis grounded out. Josh Tomlin’s first inning was significantly less productive.
After getting leadoff hitter Derek Jeter to ground out to open the ballgame, Curtis Granderson walked, Mark Teixeira singled, and then Robinson Cano drove in both runners with a double to right. Cano was thrown out at third, effectively diffusing the Yankees’ chances at scoring any more runs in the first. It’s been a season-long trend for Tomlin to struggle early in the game. With two more runs allowed on Monday, Tomlin’s first inning ERA is now 12.60 and opposing hitters are batting .404.
In the second inning, the Indians picked up a one-out single from Michael Brantley, who advanced to second on a Johnny Damon groundout, but went no further as Casey Kotchman was very overmatched by Kuroda. The Yankees went right back to work in the second inning. Again, Tomlin retired the leadoff man, but then gave up a single to Eric Chavez. In a sign that Monday’s game was not going to end well, Dewayne Wise hit a no doubt about it two-run homer to deep right center. It was Wise’s first home run of the season and he entered the game with a .133 average and four hits on the season. He wasn’t done.
With the Indians down 4-0 entering the third, the game was already slipping away from their malfunctioning offense. They put up another doughnut in the third, getting just a two-out single from Shin-Soo Choo. The Yankees, on the other hand, kept chugging right along, adding a couple more off Tomlin. This time, Tomlin retired the first two batters of the inning before allowing back-to-back home runs to Cano and Nick Swisher. Ibanez drew a walk to extend the inning, but Chavez popped out to end the inning and end Tomlin’s start. Tomlin lasted just three innings, allowing six runs, three home runs, and six hits.
The Indians only attempt at a rally before the game was totally out of reach came in the fourth. After Kipnis and Carlos Santana walked, the Indians had first and second with nobody out. Santana was forced out at second when Brantley hit into a fielder’s choice, advancing Kipnis to third. Damon and Kotchman both popped up on the infield and the Indians scoring chance was snuffed out.
Recently-recalled Scott Barnes, who pitched in college at St. John’s University in New York City, made his Yankee Stadium debut in the fourth. Barnes was called up prior to Monday’s game as Jeanmar Gomez was sent down. Barnes will likely go back to Columbus on Thursday when Zach McAllister takes Gomez’s turn in the rotation. Barnes hit the second hitter he faced, Chris Stewart, but Jeter lined into a double play to end the inning.
The next 11 batters were all retired in order, which was nice because it sped up the game. The Yankees kicked the extra point in their half of the sixth. After Barnes retired the first two hitters, he walked Chavez in front of today’s All-Star, Dewayne Wise. Wise tripled home Chavez and put the Yankees ahead 7-0.
In the seventh, Johnny Damon recorded his 2,750th career hit with a double. He was stranded at second when Kotchman grounded out and Jack Hannahan struck out. Esmil Rogers, who has given up runs in boatloads lately to inferior hitters, got through Jeter, Granderson, Teixeira, and Cano working around a single and a hit by pitch to put up a zero.
The Indians finally scored a run in the eighth. Lonnie Chisenhall singled and Choo doubled to put runners at second and third with nobody out. After Cabrera lined out to right, Kipnis drove a ball into the gap that Swisher ran down, but Chisenhall scored on the sacrifice fly. Santana flew out into the right field corner.
Jeremy Accardo entered in the bottom of the eighth and faced the bottom of the Yankees order and
The Indians did nothing in the ninth and took another ugly loss, this one a 7-1 final in the Bronx.
Josh Tomlin took the loss, dropping him to 3-5 on the season. Hiroki Kuroda was the winner, moving up to an even .500 on the season at 7-7, lowering his ERA to 3.40. With the loss, the Indians fell to 37-35. At time of post, they were getting some help from the lowly Minnesota Twins as Francisco Liriano was working on a 3-0 shutout against the Chicago White Sox.
Stat of the Night: Monday’s game marked the 10th time that the Indians were held to one run this season.
Player of the Game: Guess I’ll go with Scott Barnes here, pitching, presumably, with some friends and maybe family in attendance. He pitched 2.2 scoreless innings before the two-out walk and subsequent triple that scored a run.
Tomorrow’s Game: The Indians desperately need another good start from Justin Masterson who takes the mound against Phil Hughes in the middle game of the series, with first pitch at 7:05 p.m.