Josh Tomlin Holds Red Sox Winless

Josh Tomlin continued the recent trend of strong starting pitching performances in Tuesday night’s 3-1 win over the Red Sox. The win improves the Indians to 2-2 and the Red Sox to 0-4.

The game lacked explosive offense, as it was dominated by pitching. Both Josh Beckett of the Red Sox and Josh Tomlin of the Indians had strong outings. Beckett held the Tribe to 5 hits in 5 innings while Tomlin held the Sox to 3 hits in 7 innings. The difference was that Tomlin received a win while Beckett received the loss.

The Red Sox scored their only run in the second inning off of a Jarrod Saltalamacchia single. After David Ortiz scored, JD Drew attempted to score from second and add another run. Shin-Soo Choo had other plans, throwing a strike to Carlos Santana who made a great tag on Drew to record the out. The play held the score at 1-0.

The Indians put two runs of their own on the board in the fourth. Orlando Cabrera singled home Travis Hafner after Hafner doubled on a near home run ball. A few batters later, Jack Hannahan continued his hot streak by hitting an RBI single which scored Cabrera. The Tribe added another run in the sixth off of a Carlos Santana sac fly which scored Asdrubal.

The Indians did not record a hit after the fifth inning, but it did not matter. After Josh Tomlin left the game, Tony Sipp came in for the eighth inning and sent the Sox down in order.

Things got a little interesting in the ninth. Chris Perez gave many Indians a Joe Borowski flashback. After recording a quick out, he allowed a single to Pedroia. He followed that up with a walk to Adrian Gonzalez. He seemed to be frustrated on the mound, but a visit by Manny Acta helped calm him down. Perez forced David Ortiz to fly out and gained his first save of the season.

Game Notes: Choo is having a very rough start to the season. He is 1-16 on the year with no RBI. It is still early, which is why fans must not worry about Choo. A player of his caliber will find a way to work out of the early slump.

The attendance was less at less than 10,000 for the third game in a row. The reported attendance was 9,025 which would have been a record low if Sunday’s attendance was not in the 8000’s. If the Indians keep winning, the attendance will surely increase.