#332---MIN @ CLE, 6/1/2012

 

The Indians battered Carl Pavano for seven runs in 3 2/3 innings, with a Lonnie Chisenhall two-run shot and a Jason Kipnis grand slam as the big blows. This happened to be the last really good start of Derek Lowe’s career – he had four subsequent starts that officially qualified as “quality starts”, but they were all of the 6 IP/3 R variety (well, one was 6.2/3). He struck out just two and walked one, pitching to contact. After this game he had a 3.06 ERA which would balloon to 5.52 by July 31, after which he was traded to the Yankees and worked exclusively out of the bullpen for the rest of the season and all of 2013.

Leading off the fifth, Anthony Swarzak tagged the bag to record an unassisted putout of Casey Kotchman – not a particularly rare play, but one worth noting on a scorekeeping blog when it pops up organically.

#331---TEX @ CLE, 6/4/2011

 

Two-run homers from Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz were all Derek Holland needed as he shut out the Tribe 4-0 on five hits, one walk, and five strikeouts. Loading the bases with two outs in the sixth on a rare Adrian Beltre error was the only time Cleveland got a runner to third.

#330---CLE @ CHA, 6/4/2010

 

An Alexei Ramirez homer off Justin Masterson staked John Danks to a 1-0 lead through five, but he faced seven batters in the sixth and retired just one as the Indians batted around and put a four-spot. They kept scoring with two in the seventh and four in the eighth to make it a laugher. Austin Kearns (3-5, 1 W, 3 R, 2 RBI), Jhonny Peralta (4-5, 2 R, 4 RBI), and Luis Valbeuna (3-5, 1 RBI) were the offensive standouts for Cleveland, while the pen retired nine of ten batters and faced the minimum.

#329---STL @ CLE, 6/12/2009

 

Albert Pujols won his third and final NL MVP award in 2009 hitting 47 homers and stealing 16 bases, collecting one of each in the Cardinals’ loss to the Indians. The wildness of the St. Louis bullpen in the seventh (four walks, two of which scored and one of which drove in a run) was decisive. Shin-Soo Choo was on based four times for the Tribe and drove in three runs.

#328---CLE @ TEX, 6/2/2008

 

Casey Blake drove in seven runs with two homers and a three run double, the latter putting the Tribe up 8-3. But Marlon Byrd’s grand slam in the fifth tied the game. The Indians took the lead back with a pair of two run homers from Ben Francisco and David Dellucci. The Rangers loaded the bases with one out in the eighth, but Rafael Perez struck out Milton Bradley and got David Murphy to ground out as the potential tying runs. Joe Borowski had a rare clean, no-stress outing in the ninth for a surprising denouement to this wild game, although it wasn’t a save situation.

#380---CHN @ CLE, 3/25/2012

 

Alfonso Soriano drove in three, including a two-run homer in the seventh as the Cubs bested the Indians. An interesting play came in the seventh when Carlos Santana made an errant throw into center field while attempting to pickoff the runner at second. Former Cub prospect Felix Pie then booted his attempt to back it up allowing the sixth Cub run to cross the plate. Otherwise, pretty standard late spring training stuff.

#327---DET @ CLE, 6/1/2007

 

Through five innings, this was a normal game, with Detroit holding a 3-1 lead. In the sixth, Craig Monroe hit a two-run homer to make it 5-1, but the Tribe tied it in the bottom of the inning with a pair of two-run homers from Jhonny Peralta and Jason Michaels. Detroit struck right back with a four-spot of their own, fueled by three singles and three walks. Down 9-5, four straight Cleveland hits made it 9-7, with Tiger closer Todd Jones summoned to get the last out of the inning, but allowing two hits and making twelve pitches in the process.

But Fernando Cabrera was wild in the top of the ninth, walking three and allowing two singles to give the Tigers the two runs right back. They now led 11-7 with their closer on the mount. Grady Sizemore grounded out, but after Casey Blake and Travis Hafner reached, Victor Martinez launched his second homer of the game and it was 11-10. Johnny Peralta doubled, but Jones fanned Ryan Garko and was one out away. An intentional walk to Jason Michaels put the winning run aboard but gave Jones a right-on-right matchup with light-hitting Josh Barfield. Barfield singled to right to tie the game, took second on indifference, and scored the winning run when David Dellucci singled. Jones’ disastrous outing: 1 IP, 5 R, 7 H, 2 W, 1 K, and a whopping 46 pitches (34 in the ninth, albeit with four on the intentional walk).

#326---CLE @ NYA, 6/14/2006

 

This was a pitching matchup between Johnsons, with Jason for Cleveland and Randy for New York. The Yankees led 3-1 going into the bottom of the sixth and their three runs essentially put the game away but also provided the spark for fireworks to come when Jason Johnson plunked Jorge Posada. With one out in the seventh, Randy Johnson apparently retaliated by hitting Eduardo Perez, resulting in the ejection of both him and Joe Torre. This ended a strong start for the Big Unit: 6 1/3 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 0 W, 6 K, and just 77 pitches. Scott Proctor and Ron Villone closed it out with just a Grady Sizemore double.

#325---CIN @ CLE, 6/24/2005

 

There’s a lot going on in this one. The game was a back-and-forth, homer driven affair. The Indians jumped Eric Milton for two in the first, but the inning ended with Victor Martinez out trying to score from first on a double. Scott Elarton promptly yielded back-to-back homers to Ken Griffey (the 515th of his career) and Joe Randa to leadoff the second, but Jose Hernandez put Cleveland back on top with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the frame. The Reds came right back with a tally in the third, but Hernandez’ second leadoff homer in the fourth put the Tribe back in front.

From there, each team managed only a couple of baserunners until Griffey hit his second homer to tie it in the eighth of Scott Sauerbeck. Interestingly, fellow lefty Arthur Rhodes relieved Sauberbeck after the homer. In the ninth, Felipe Lopez drove home the winning run for Cincinnati with a double off Bob Howry. Edwin Encarnacion was 0-4 making his major league debut.

#324---CLE @ NYN, 6/17/2004

 

Jae Seo and Scott Elarton each pitched four shutout innings, but a nearly two-hour rain delay knocked them out with very similar lines:

Seo: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 W, 6 K, 52 pitches

Elarton: 4 IP, 1 H, 1 W, 4 K, 53 pitches

The Mets bullpen outpitched the Indians bullpen, with the Tribe’s allowing at least one run in each inning and the Mets tossing zeroes until the ninth.

A couple substitutes to note: Gonzalez pinch-hit for the pitcher’s spot leading off the Cleveland sixth. My first thought was that this was Andy Gonzalez, but I knew he had come along much later, so I had to look up that it was Raul Gonzalez, who appeared in seven games for the ‘04 Indians and had slipped my memory. It was his final big league stint; his most extended playing time had come with the ‘03 Mets. And the recently deceased Gerald Williams, serving as a defensive replacement for Cliff Floyd in the top of the ninth.