Corey Kluber struck out the side in the first and allowed only a walk in the second, but in the third the roof caved in, the first six Astros reaching base before back-to-back comebackers on which he tagged the batter-runner out. A walk and a single followed and Kluber was gone after 2 2/3 and having allowed five runs. The Indians didn’t do much against Mike Fiers and Houston’s bullpen, resulting in a 7-1 final.
In the previous night’s game, Corey Kluber had fanned 18 Cardinals in eight innings (unfortunately, of all the Indians games I have scored over the years I do not have the best pitching performance of that time). Trevor Bauer followed him up by pitching well, and led 1-0 heading into the eighth backed by a Michael Brantley solo homer. Cleveland also had missed opportunities with two runners thrown out at home.
Bauer walked Peter Bourjos and left after making 110 pitches over 7 1/3, walking three and fanning ten. Former Cardinal Mark Rzepczynski was summoned and surrendered a two-run shot to Matt Carpenter that gave St. Louis a 2-1 victory.
The Cubs scored 17 runs, so they naturally had a number of big offensive performances:
* Emilio Bonifacio 4-5 with a walk and five runs scored
* Junior Lake 3-5 with two doubles, a homer, and five RBI
* Starlin Castro 3-5 with a double and a triple
* Mike Olt 2-5 with a homer
This was one of just eight MLB appearances for Cardinal reliever Eric Fornataro, and Daniel Descalso had to be summoned to get the last out after Randy Choate had allowed six runs in the ninth. But the most interesting thing might be Yadier Molina stealing third with two outs in the fifth on a 1-2 pitch with his team trailing 9-5. Travis Wood must have never seen it coming.
This game lasted only 2:26 as Kris Medlen and Dan Haren both pitched efficiently and effectively. Washington got three runs in the first two frames, with Denard Span as their offensive catalyst, leading off the game and scoring after a double, then driving in the two second inning runs with a two-out double. He’d later add a walk and a single. Haren held the Braves hitless until the fourth and was really cruising (less than ten pitches per inning) until Dan Uggla took him deep in the seventh and the Braves made him make 21 pitches in the eighth. Although he was only at ninety through eight, Rafael Soriano came in and got the save.
In June 2010, the Indians held the #5 pick in the draft and were widely expected to take one of the top college lefties. They did, choosing Drew Pomeranz. Eight picks later the White Sox snapped up Chris Sale.
In July 2011, the Indians deluded themselves into thinking they were contenders, and traded Pomeranz and Alex White to the Rockies for Ubaldo Jimenez.
In May 2012, Chris Sale held the Indians to three hits and one run over six innings, while Ubaldo Jimenez made 20+ pitches in four consecutive innings and coughed up 7 runs to the White Sox in 4 2/3. This was not a fun time to be a Tribe fan.
In the second, Cleveland had trouble catching popups. Alejandro de Aza got a double on a pop up that dropped between Jason Donald and Asdrubal Cabrera, and later in the inning AJ Pierzynski’s pop dropped uncaught on or near the pitcher’s mound. The bases were loaded with one out, though, so the infield fly rule was in effect (“IF” indicates that it was an uncaught infield fly – I don’t note that the umpire called an infield fly if the catch is completed – with putout credited to Cabrera).
The top five spots in the Cleveland batting order combined to go 0-20 reaching base. The bottom four went 9-16.
It’s easy to forget that Bartolo Colon pitched for the Yankees, but here is fanning seven without a walk over seven innings. He allowed three runs, two coming on solo homers from Alex Avila. On the other side, Justin Verlander allowed three runs over six innings, needing 127 pitches to strike out eight.
It was tied entering the top of the ninth when Curtis Granderson worked a twelve-pitch walk from Jose Valverde. He was caught stealing when he overslid the bag, but Mark Teixeira worked a walk, A-Rod an infield single, and Nick Swisher the go-ahead single. A two-out passed ball allowed a second run to come up, and Mariano Rivera needed just nine pitches to retired the Tigers in order.
Every Yankee reached base, but the Tigers got 0-4s out of their 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7 slots and 0-3 from #9. Ramon Santiago was 3-4 in #2, Cabrera 3-4 in #4, and Avila 2-4 in #8 with those two longballs.
This was too interesting of a game to be kept on a lame scoresheet. This sheet maximized space by only allowing six plate appearances for each lineup slot and not dividing by innings, in the Project Scoresheet style, but using traditional scoring. The Yankees scored six in the fourth to take a 8-3 lead, and the teams traded single tallies in the fifth. The Indians scored one in the sixth to cut it to 9-5, and then put up a seven run-seventh, lighting up David Robertson for three runs and Joba Chamberlain for four.
This game is a great example of why I prefer a 9x9 grid, despite all the wasted space. It is hard to follow innings in writing a story of the game without columns to make them stand out. Some notable items:
* Alex Rodriguez literally knocked David Huff out of the game with a line drove double off him in the third
* Shin-Soo Choo was 0-6, without his first four at bats consisting of two pitches or less
* Despite twenty-four total runs, the only homer was delivered by Russell Branyan in the eighth
* Lou Marson drove in three runs on three doubles
Out of the many Indians games I’ve scored, I do not have one of Armando Galarraga’s should have been perfect game in 2010. I do have this one, in which the Indians scored four runs off Galarraga in the second and knocked him out after five innings with a 5-0 lead. Carl Pavano didn’t allow Detroit a hit until the fourth, and the Indians tacked on a run in the seventh.
It’s fortunate they did, because after Pavano allowed two doubles in the eighth, Jensen Lewis came on to allow two hits and serve up a three-run bomb to Miguel Cabrera. Rafael Betancourt was summoned, and he set down all four Tigers he faced to pick up the save.
Gil Meche allowed just four singles, striking out four over seven innings, and the Royals bullpen tossed two perfect innings (which combined with Meche’s efforts meant the final twelve were retired in order) to beat the Indians 2-0. Aaron Laffey pitched his own gem, taking a no-hitter into the fifth, with his only run allowed coming on a two-out throwing error by Casey Blake in that frame. In the ninth, Rafael Perez got the first two outs before Rafael Betancourt was summoned and taken deep by Miguel Olivo for the second and final run.
Two years later, the two initialed starting pitchers would anchor the Yankees rotation to a world title. This game started very poorly for CC Sabathia as he surrendered first inning solo shots to Alex Rios, Troy Glaus, and Aaron Hill. But he settled in to allow just one single over his final five frames, earning a quality start at the minimum standard and fanning nine without issuing a walk.
The Indians would turn it into a rout with five extra-base hits accounting for all of the runs. In the fourth, Travis Hafner’s two-run homer and Jhonny Peralta’s two-run double gave them the lead off AJ Burnett. Jhonny Peralta’s three-run homer in the fifth, Victor Martinez’ two-run double in the sixth, and Trot Nixon’s three-run homer in the eighth made it a 12-4 final.
