Justin Masterson Improves to 4-0 as Tribe Win

After losing in the closest way possible on Tuesday, the Indians came back and got the win last night. They were led by Justin Masterson, who after a 2 run first inning, settled in. He improved his record to 4-0.

In the first inning Masterson allowed runs on an Alex Gordon triple and a Jeff Francoeur single. This put the score at 2-0, and it looked like Masterson would struggle. He came back to pitch 5 more innings and not allow a single run.

The Indians offense did not show up until the 6th inning, mostly due to Luke Hochevar’s great pitching. He carried a perfect game into the 6th inning. That was quickly gone as Michael Brantley led off the inning with a single. It started to go south for Hochevar when he balked and sent Brantley to second. Matt LaPorta then hit a double which scored Brantley and put the score at 2-1.

After a groundout sent LaPorta to third, Hochevar did the unthinkable. For the second time in the inning he balked. It was very obvious as he started his windup and then stepped off the mound. LaPorta scored and the game was now tied. Two more runs would be added by a Shin-Soo Choo double, and a Travis Hafner double, which he snuck past the shift into left field.

The Indians sent nine men to the plate in the sixth, and went on to send eight to the plate in the seventh inning. In the 7th they scored two runs off a Jack Hannahan double. It was now 6-2, and Masterson had a comfortable lead to get the win.

Masterson was pulled in the 7th and replaced by Rafael Perez who came on to get one out. He succeeded and was replaced by Vinnie Pestano, who also did his job and got out of the inning.

The Indians added one run in the top of the ninth off of a Carlos Santana single, one night too late, and headed into the bottom of the inning up 7-2. The usually automatic Tony Sipp came in to finish the game, but he could not. He gave up 3 runs, including a Francoeur two run home run that put the score at 7-5. Manny Acta had seen enough and made the call to bring in Chris Perez. He only needed to get one out for the save, and he got it quickly.

The Indians win puts them at 13-5 and tied for the best record in the MLB with the Rockies. Masterson improved to 4-0 and Perez got his sixth save of the year.

The Indians have one more game in KC and can increase their division lead to 3 games with a win. Josh Tomlin is on the mound and is looking to improve his record to 4-0 as Masterson did on Wednesday.