As expected the Indians brought up Jeanmar Gomez for today's start and dropped one of their 6 bench players. The interesting part is who they decided to drop (it was Shelley Duncan). Moves like this are what prompt me to say that the Indians do not have winning as their number one goal. Shelley Duncan is unquestionably better than Austin Kearns in every facet of the game. He is better defensively as both have no speed or range, but at least Duncan has a better arm. He's also available at first base if absolutely necessary. Offensively, there is no comparison. Duncan his batting more than 20 points higher and is slugging 100 points more (Kearns .300, Duncan .400). In 6 less games and 20 less at bats he has 15 more RBI and 2 more home runs. He has also only struck out 28 times while Austin has struck out 40. There is no issue of roster versatility as Travis Buck is an almost identical player to Kearns (although slightly better, Buck has an OPS of .642 while Kearns is at .604). The only reason the Indians made this move is so they don't have to pay Austin Kearns not to play, which they will have to do if they release him, while Shelley Duncan, Travis Buck and others still have minor league options left. You don't win championships making moves to save money, you win championships making moves to win baseball games. The prolonged stay in AAA of Lonnie Chisenhall was also based on financial motives as the point was to keep him around for one more season before he is arbitration eligible. As soon as upper management and team ownership figures out that increased attendance follows closely with increased winning percentage, maybe they will stop making stupid baseball moves and start trying to win.

Player of the Game

Today’s player of the game was Orlando Cabrera. Cabrera stole the award from Brantley with his bases clearing double in the 9^th inning, giving him a “POG” score of 4.06. This was Cabrera’s sixth “POG” this year, tying him for 5^th among active players on the team.

Feathers Up

After a couple of horrible starts, Carlos Carrasco pitched well today in his 7 inning performance. Carrasco gave up only 3 runs on 5 hits and struck out 6 Birds.

Ezequiel Carrera showed off his arm today on a relay throw that nailed Derrek Lee at the plate. Carrera hit the cut-off man, Orlando Cabrera, setting up an accurate throw to Lou Marson to prevent another Oriole runner from scoring in the 4^th. 

 The Indians showed great plate discipline in the 9^th inning, drawing three straight walks with one out, bringing the tying run to the plate. This set up for a bases-clearing double by Orlando Cabrera, bringing the Indians within one run.

The 6-man bench was put to use for the third game in a row. Grady Sizemore and Matt Laporta were used to pinch hit late in the game after they had both been given the day off.

Feathers Down

 The Bullpen Mafia was not too intimidating tonight. Rafael Perez had a rough outing, retiring only one batter and surrendered 1 run on two doubles. His relief, Frank Hermann, walked two batters and gave up a double. In total, the two gave up 3 runs on 3 hits with 2 walks.

The Indians batters were only able to get one hit through the first five innings of the game. Mchael Brantey reached on the first Indians hit of the day in the 4^th inning, but was immediately erased on an Asdrubal Cabrera double play ball.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 5 - Baltimore Orioles 6

Player of the Game

Grady Sizemore won tonight's player of the game after accounting for 3 of the 6 Indians runs in what ended up being a one run game. Grady hit a double and home run, scoring twice and knocking two in. For those who think the math is wrong a 2 run home run counts for 2 RBI and a run, but only 2 runs for the team. Grady scored 5.66 'POG' points giving him more than one point in each of the Indians last four games. It is Grady's 5th of the season. Asdrubal Cabrera (4.20 'POG' points) and Matt LaPorta (2.91) each had great games as well as did the entire bullpen (7.04 combined score).

Feathers Up

It may seem repetitive to keep mentioning the bullpen night after night, but if a player hit a home run every single game it would be worth mentioning and what the Bullpen Mafia is doing is helping the team win a lot more than a single home run. Yet again the bullpen, tonight consisting of Chad Durbin, Rafael Perez, Joe Smith, Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez, kept the opposition from scoring a single run to maintain a perilous one run lead for 4 innings. Every relief pitcher tonight got a decision with the first 4 getting holds and Chris Perez getting a save.

The Indians had a 6 man bench available for the second night in a row and will have it for tomorrow's game as well as only 3 starting pitchers are currently on the roster. Of course everyone is well rested right now so it isn't really necessary and the 6 players, have had a total of one at bat in the last two games. Hopefully Ezequiel Carrera will at least get one start before he's removed from the roster either for Jeanmar Gomez or Fausto Carmona.

The Indians grabbed a tie for first place in the Central Division last night and maintained first tonight by beating the Orioles. If they can just win every game for the rest of the season, they will be all set as the 2011 Central Division Champions.

They are who we though they were. The Orioles score a lot of runs and have terrible pitching. Not many surprises so far this series.

Feathers Down

We've mentioned this before on BurningRiverBaseball, but it may be time to move Carlos Santana down in the lineup. One spot lower would have helped today as Grady Sizemore had a great game from the 5 spot and the Indians probably would have scored a few more runs without Santana's 0-4 performance. Santana left two runners in scoring position and struck out twice. This is not to say he is not a good hitter, just that he isn't as good as Sizemore and could benefit from a position in the lineup with less pressure.

Josh Tomlin made it through 5 innings to keep his record going, but just barely. Tomlin allowed 3 home runs (his only weakness this season) for a total of 5 earned runs. The first home run came off a 3-1 count where one of the balls was called for Tomlin going to his mouth while on the mound. It is possible that the combination of his poor control and his distress over being called for a free ball lead to the meat ball pitches he threw to Matt Weiters and Nolan Reimold that turned into home runs in the second inning.

Orlando Cabrera was thrown out stealing by 5 feet after getting a great jump. Might be time to get some younger wheels in there at second base. Off the top of my head, maybe someone like Jason Kipnis. Just a suggestion.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 6 - Baltimore Orioles 5

Player of the Game

Carlos Santana hit a home run, a double and knocked in 3 to win tonight's 'Player of the Game' with a score of 6.01. This marks the first time that Justin Masterson didn't win this award in his last 4 starts. It is just Santana's third 'Player of the Game' of the season.

Feathers Up

The Indians came back strong and well rested after the All-Star break, scoring 8 runs for the first time in the last 10 games. They started off especially strong with both Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana hitting home runs for a quick 3 run lead that the Indians would never relinquish.

Lonnie Chisenhall was back in action after having his face destroyed a week ago with the aid of a new batting helmet. Lonnie and his new helmet went 0-3, but it's just good to have him back in the lineup.

The Bullpen Mafia had another strong showing tonight, especially Vinnie Pestano and Tony Sipp who pitched a perfect 8th and 9th innings, striking out 5 of the 6 batters faced.

Feathers Down

Justin Masterson allowed more than double his usual amount of runs by giving up 4 in 6 innings. He also allowed 8 hits, including 4 doubles. On a positive note, he struck out 8 batters in those innings.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 8 - Baltimore Orioles 4

Summary:

The first half of 2011 couldn't have ended any uglier for the Orioles. The seven-game losing streak couldn't drown out the thud that was an ejection-marred series against the division rival Red Sox. The clubs emptied the benches twice Friday and some high-and-tight pitches Sunday rounded out the four-game Boston sweep as both managers were ejected. Orioles players insisted they were sticking up for themselves, perhaps after a breaking point in which they felt like Boston was having its way with the Baltimore club. This season was supposed to be one where the Orioles finally challenged the elusive .500 win percentage. The team upgraded its offense in the offseason through trades -- acquiring Mark Reynolds and J.J. Hardy -- and via free agency -- signing Derrek Lee and Vladimir Guerrero. But the sore spot has been the rotation, which looked strong after the season's first two weeks. Now, the rotation is devoid of its most promising starters -- with Brian Matusz, Zach Britton and Chris Tillman all in the minors. The only hope for the Orioles' fan base -- which hasn't seen a winner since the 1997 season -- is that the club will finish strong, like it did after manager Buck Showalter took over.

The Orioles were swept in Cleveland, April 15-17, by scores of 8-2, 8-3 and 4-2. Masterson and Tomlin each earned a victory.

Pitching matchups:

RHP Justin Masterson (7-6, 2.64 ERA) vs. RHP Jeremy Guthrie (3-12, 4.23), Tonight at 7:05 p.m.

RHP Josh Tomlin (10-4, 3.81) vs. RHP Jake Arrieta (9-6, 4.90), Friday at 7:05 p.m.

RHP Carlos Carrasco (8-6, 4.28) vs. RHP Alfredo Simon (1-2, 4.85), Saturday at 7:05 p.m.

RHP Jeanmar Gomez (0-1, 4.91) vs. TBA, Sunday at 1:35 p.m.

Oriole Injuries:

• RHP Brad Bergesen (right forearm contusion) left the July 8 game after being struck by a line drive. X-rays were negative, and he is day-to-day.

• LF Luke Scott (torn labrum in right shoulder) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to July 4. A medical test July 8 found no need for surgery, and he is expected to be activated July 19.

• 2B Brian Roberts (concussion-like symptoms) went on the seven-day disabled list retroactive to May 17.

• INF Cesar Izturis (ulnar nerve injury in right elbow) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to May 17, and he was transferred to the 60-day DL on May 21. He had surgery May 24. As of July 3, he was hitting and handling other baseball activities at the club's spring training base. He might be able to start a rehab assignment after the All-Star break.

• RHP Justin Duchscherer (sore left hip, sore back) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 22 and was moved to the 60-day list on April 18. He underwent a medical procedure April 7 to relieve back pain. He threw two innings in extended spring training May 13, but he was scratched from a scheduled May 18 appearance. He had another setback in extended spring training June 7, when he experienced gluteal spasms. He cut short another extended spring training outing June 16 because of pain in his left hip. On July 11, he was given clearance to resume workouts in Sarasota, Fla.

Oriole News/Notes:

• LF Luke Scott continues to make progress in his recovery from a partially torn labrum in his right shoulder. He is expected to be ready to come off the disabled list July 19, the first day he is eligible to return.

• RHP Justin Duchscherer was given clearance Monday by Orioles ortopedist John Wilckens to resume working out at the team's complex in Sarasota, Fla. Duchscherer has been on the disabled list all season because of hip and shoulder injuries.

• RHP Mitch Atkins was officially welcomed to the American League East Sunday. After an impressive Orioles debut in his start at Texas last week, Atkins didn't escape the second inning Sunday. He allowed six runs on seven hits—including three homers—in 1 1/3 innings.

• RHP Jeremy Guthrie was needed in relief Sunday, but is scheduled to start the opener of the second half Thursday. Guthrie fell to 3-12, despite giving up just one run on three hits over 3.1 innings. When the second half opens, he will be followed by RHP Jake Arrieta Friday and RHP Alfredo Simon Saturday. The remainder of the rotation was not announced Sunday.

• 3B Mark Reynolds left in the third inning after being hit on the right hand with a Kyle Wieland pitch. INF Robert Andino moved from second to third, and INF/OF Blake Davis entered to play second. Reynolds entered Sunday with 15 strikeouts in his previous 30 at-bats. The slugger has shown improvement in the first half in striking out less, but has been inconsistent offensively and defensively for much of the season.

• DH Vladimir Guerrero followed in 3B Mark Reynold's footsteps, departing Sunday's game in the seventh after he was hit on the right hand. Guerrero was 1-for-2 with an RBI before he departed. OF Felix Pie replaced him at designated hitter.

• LHP Zach Britton was surprised by his demotion Saturday, but the move could allow the Orioles to gain back the year of service time they planned to spare this spring. According to The Sun, the plan is for Britton to return June 30, providing him the necessary 20 days to gain back a year of service time. The Orioles initially planned to keep Britton in the minors through April, but they were forced to call him up when LHP Brian Matusz was hurt on opening day.

Player of the Game

This will be the only game of the season that the 'Player of the Game' is not an Indian. Try as hard as they could, neither Tribe representative was able to make a big enough difference in the outcome of the game. This is also the only game of the season where I keep track of both teams scores as this is very complex and time consuming. The final team 'POG' scores were 21.00 for the NL and 3.27 for the AL. Adrian Gonzalez was the American League's best player with a final score of 3.15, but the real 'Player of the Game' was Prince Fielder, who won the game with a 3 run home run and finished the game with a final 'POG' score of 5.42.

Asdrubal Cabrera

Asdrubal started at shortstop for the American League due to the fact that the shortstop who was voted into the game, Derek Jeter, didn't even bother to show up. While he absolutely deserved the start, he wasn't all that spectacular as he went 0-2 with a strike out before he was replaced by former Indian shortstop, Jhonny Peralta. Cabrera was unable to show off his glove as well as he muffed the only ball hit to him. Overall this game really isn't important and he didn't give up any unearned runs so hopefully he had a good time at his first of what should be many All-Star games.

Chris Perez

The Rage was alive and raging in Phoenix as Chris Perez pitched a scoreless inning against the National League. He pitched the 6th inning and didn't have a lead at the time so it was a little different situation than he is used to. None of that mattered to Perez as he still excelled, striking out NL MVP Joey Votto and only allowing one hit to his former teammate Yadier Molina. His scoreless outing kept the American League within three runs. With Mariano Rivera also sitting out, Chris Perez was the best closer available to the AL, but manager Ron Washington still decided to use him early in the game.

Of the game itself, the American League was hurt by injuries and drop outs as some of the best players in baseball were kept out of the game. Felix Hernandez, Justin Verlander, Jon Lester, C.C. Sabathia, David Price, James Shields, Mariano Rivera and Alex Rodriguez all dropped out of the game beforehand for one reason or another while Josh Beckett and Miguel Cabrera were each injured during the game and were unable to play. The players lost by the NL were no where near the stature of those lost by the AL and this really slanted the odds toward the NL before the game even started.

Final Score: American League 1 - National League 5

Best player: Righthander Alex White opened at Triple-A Columbus with a 1.90 ERA in four starts, then went 1-0, 3.60 in three big league starts before suffering a sprained right middle finger that has sidelined him since May 21.

As White rehabs, lefthander Drew Pomeranz is following in his footsteps as another fast-track draft pick. The fifth overall pick in 2010, Pomeranz, like White, began his career at high Class A Kinston. Pomeranz was off to a 2-2, 1.93 start through 12 outings in the Carolina League, with a potential promotion to Double-A looming.

Biggest Leap Forward: Infielder Cord Phelps wasn't a popular name on the lips of Tribe fans entering the season. Yet Phelps hit his way into the big league lineup just when the club needed an offensive spark. Originally a second baseman, Phelps has spent the last year and a half moving around the infield between second base, shortstop and third base, while mixing in appearances at Columbus as a DH. After batting .299/.391/.488 in 55 games for Columbus, Phelps was promoted to Cleveland in June. He was hitting .196/.315/.326 through 19 games, but he did chip in a three-run walkoff home run to help beat the Pirates on June 19.

Biggest Disappointment: The pure athleticism of outfielder LeVon Washington was too much for the Indians to pass up in last year's draft, despite warning signs about his maturity. Still, the Tribe rolled the dice and selected Washington out of Chipola (Fla.) CC with their second-round pick, handing him a $1.2 million bonus.

Considered raw with a below-average arm in the outfield, the one thing Washington was expected to do was hit. However, he has struggled at the plate at low Class A Lake County to start the season, batting .219/.330/.332 in 49 games.

Before the season, most members of the media and baseball experts saw the Indians finishing a distant fourth or perhaps even fifth in the 2011 Central. However, the team jumped out to a big early lead, and although things have slowed down for the Tribe, at the All-Star break they are only half a game behind division-leading Detroit. Players such as Asdrubal Cabrera, Carlos Santana, Justin Masterson, JoshTomlin, and Carlos Carrasco have led the charge. Like all teams (especially those in the AL Central), the Indians have holes, especially with Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore taking their traditional stints to the disabled list. Such holes aren't always easy to fill. However, during yesterday’s Cleveland-Toronto tilt, as the Blue Jays’ announce team raved about Orlando Cabrera‘s status as a veteran leader and good luck charm, it struck me again that the Indians do have a obvious solution in at least one spot. According to second base prospect Jason Kipnis (who hit a home run in Sunday night’s Futures Game), the team has his phone number. Why won’t they give him a call?

I’ll be the first to admit that I have no way of knowing what sort of miraculous effects Orlando Cabrera’s intangibles have on a team — maybe he really is the cause of Cleveland’s run at the division title this season. Leaving that possibility aside, he’s been statistically bad this season. Yet he has started 70 games at second base. He might have made sense as a stopgap for the team before the season, but if they are serious about making a run at the division, it’s time to move on.

The real issue here is Kipnis. Along with recent call-up Lonnie Chisenhall, Kipnis is widely regarded as one of Cleveland’s top prospects. Indeed, I’ve even seen him listed ahead of Chisenhall in one or two places. It is interesting to compare Kipnis’s numbers in the minors to fellow-converted second baseman Dustin Ackley. While Ackley (23) is rightly considered the superior prospect, Kipnis (24) is only a year older, his numbers on similar levels are every bit as good as Ackley’s, and while Kipnis’s fielding at second is described as a work in progress, I don’t think that’s any different than Ackley’s situation. The Mariners probably are out of it for good this season, but they saw Ackley as ready, and called him up.

Of course, just because Seattle called their hot second base prospect up doesn’t mean that Cleveland should do the same. The more interesting comparison is with Cleveland’s own decision to call up Chisenhall (21) to play third base. Despite the exceptions I mentioned above, most prospect-watchers do consider Chisenhall to be the superior prospect to Kipnis, as his young age allows for greater upside. His glove is also better at his position. However, prior to the season few expected Chisenhall to be up before September. Moreover, Chisenhall wasn’t exactly tearing it up at AAA this season, and had some injury issues as well. However, one might be able to understand the Indians’ decision to call Chisenhall up given that they are in the divisional race and that Jack Hanahan is only a stopgap himself. However, just about any justification of that sort used for calling up Chisenhall applies even moreso to Kipnis. Hannahan is only a stopgap, but I would argue that he’s better than Cabrera (he at least isn’t worse). Whatever their respective upsides, Kipnis’ bat is clearly better than Chisenhall’s a the moment. If the team wants to preserve service time, then why would they call up Chisenhall?

There are other issues but they are easily set aside: the team does have more “depth” at second, but if they seriously wanted to give Luis Valbuena another chance, they wouldn’t have given Cabrera the job in the first place. Joe suggests the team even trade from this depth. Cord Phelps is a more interesting issue, but it isn’t clear that the team views him as a serious option (rightly or wrongly). If they are trying to win this season, they need to go with the best player at the position, and that this point, it’s Kipnis. Hopefully for Tribe fans, he comes up after the break is over. I’m sure the team has their reasons for the decisions they’ve made, but in light of the aggressive promotion of Chisenhall, I honestly can’t see why Kipnis isn’t up already.

Jason Kipnis needs to be called up from Columbus... soon.

It's time for the All-Star break and the 2011 have been an overall success. While some claim that the Indians have already done enough, by coming within 22 wins of last seasons total at the half way mark, I don't buy that. Last year is firmly in the past and anything can happen in the future. Past seasons performance should never keep a team from competing at its absolute best with the ultimate goal in mind. 89 games into the 2011 season, the Indians find themselves in 2nd place in the AL Central, only a half game behind the favored Detroit Tigers. This is not a mistake. The Indians didn't get any free wins and haven't played better than their record either. This isn't the 2001 Mariners who overachieved in every aspect of the game with almost an entire lineup filled with players who had career years. The team batting average is .250 and they are right in the middle of the pack as far as runs scored and allowed. This can be seen multiple ways.

First, it means the Indians are not playing beyond their abilities, meaning they will probably not have a huge let down. It also means that you probably can't expect a whole lot more out of these guys. One benefit the Indians do have going into the second half is that they were not always playing at full strength during the first half. Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore, Carlos Carrasco, Mitch Talbot, Fausto Carmona and Matt LaPorta all missed a significant amount of time and will hopefully be able to finish out the season in full health. The worst injury still looms ahead for the Tribe with Shin-Soo Choo out until basically the end of the regular season. Another injured player that will be coming back to the team soon is Trevor Crowe. He has missed the entire season to this point with a broken wing, but should be back soon. While it is unknown how well he will be able to perform coming off an injury, he has quietly put together a couple good seasons for the Indians and would be a better replacement in right field for Choo than either Travis Buck or Austin Kearns can be. Crowe has 26 steals and 70 runs scored along with 154 hits in what amounts to just over a regular seasons worth of at bats (625).

Everyone who has watched the Indians play this season can tell you they have won as many games as they have because of their pitching. While the starting pitching has been above average and has kept the Indians in almost every game, the bullpen has been magnificent on a possibly historical level. The Indians best pitchers in terms of ERA (Justin Masterson, Rafael Perez, Tony Sipp, Chris Perez, Vinnie Pestano, Joe Smith and Josh Judy are all under 3.00) have combined for an ERA of 2.38 in 299 innings pitching. Josh Tomlin, Alex White and Frank Herrmann all have ERAs under 4.00 as well. Smith deserves as special notation as he has only allowed 3 runs this season in 31.2 innings for an ERA of 0.85. Masterson has by far been the best starter, holding an ERA of 2.64 and leads the all starters in home runs allowed (4) and strikeouts (87). Home runs have been a slight problem for the starting staff in general with every other pitcher giving up at least 10 so far this season.

The Indians have had so many injuries during the early part of the season that projecting stats for the rest of the season difficult. I did a straight extrapolation of each starter's stats who I think will finish the rest of the season as a starter. To figure out the projected games played for each player I assumed that all injuries are 100% healed and no player will be injured for the rest of the season. While this is wishful thinking, there is no way to predict injuries. I then took the percent of games played when each player was able and used that for the rest of 2011. Adding those projected end of season stats with the ones that already happened looks a little something like this:

While none of these players are bordering on records, their numbers will be respectable if they can keep up the pace and get near these numbers. 2011 has been a year of the pitcher all around the Majors so, unless your name is Jose Bautista, you can't expect a whole lot. Major League pitching has been so amazing this season that Justin Masterson and his 2.64 ERA (7th in the AL) did not even make the All-Star team even though 6 pitchers dropped out of the game due to injury or because they started on Sunday. Asdrubal Cabrera has done the best so far of all the Indians hitters, which earned him his All-Star Game start, and his numbers are very good for a short stop, but even they are no where near great. Cabrera is the one veteran who is having a career year and has already crushed most of his career highs and will certainly beat the rest by the end of the year. 

As far as the rest of the season goes, no one can really tell. The Indians have placed themselves in strong contention for the Central Division crown and will be able to control their own destiny for the rest of the season. The Tribe has 16 series against other Central Division teams out of the 23 left in the season. The Twins and Royals seem to have removed themselves from contention, but will still remain hard teams to beat for the rest of the season. Right now the Indians 4.29 runs allowed per game is the best since 2005 (3.96 RA/G) and better than every team in the 90's except for 1995 (4.22). If they can keep up this amazing pitching combined with the return of Alex White and can increase the level of the offense now that everybody is healthy (except Choo) there is no reason the Indians won't be able to clinch this thing by September 1st.

Austin Kearns is being removed from my black list, because he has a positive 'POG' score in his last 7 games and because I'm ending all running bits before the All-Star break. If you aren't a regular reader of my post games, you probably don't have any clue what I'm talking about. Of course you might not know what a 'Player of the Game' score is in the first place, so click here to find out about my 'Player of the Game' scoring system and here to learn about why Austin Kearns has been not mentioned on this site for the last couple weeks. Look out for all new bits in the second half, like one where I will use Pronk for every noun, adjective and verb in an entire game recap and another where I'll make up clever nicknames for everyone like "That Guy" and "Mr. Dude." Oh, yeah, Orlando Cabrera now has 2,020 career hits. Don't think I forgot.

Player of the Game

Frank Herrmann won his 4th 'Player of the Game' of the season, coming into the game as middle relief, taking over for Carlos Carrasco in the 4th inning. Herrmann pitched 2 scoreless innings and struck out a batter. All of his 4 awards have come in Indians losses, so he's got that going for him. Four 'POG's ties him with Grady Sizemore, Carlos Carrasco and Shelley Duncan for the season. For an expanded up to date look at this seasons 'POG' standings, check out the 'Player of the Game' tab at the top of the page sometime tomorrow.

Feathers Up

Vinnie Pestano came back today and struck out the side in one inning, throwing nothing but heat. This comes after 3 straight bad outings by Pestano, the Indians top set up man. Since he returned from his back injury on June 11th, he has only had 2 games off in a row once so look out to see what he can do with 3 days off during the All-Star break.

The next game recap will be on Tuesday night, when I'll be covering Asdrubal Cabrera and Chris Perez's accomplishments at the All-Star Game.

Feathers Down

Jose Bautista: 4 Games played, 3 home runs, 5 RBI, 5 runs scored, 5/15 and only 4 walks.

Carlos Carrasco struggled for his second start in a row, going only 3 innings, but I'm going to ignore how terribly the Tribe has played this series and chalk it up to being very tired.

The Indians were out of this one early and saw their best shot at scoring big disappear in the first inning when Grady Sizemore and Austin Kearns each got out with the bases loaded. This type of negativity is exactly why I banned him from the blog in the first place.

Final Score: Cleveland Indians 1 - Toronto Blue Jays 7