Alomar Earns First Victory As Indians Use Winning Script To Defeat The Royals 8-5

A proven winning script in major league baseball is for a teams starting pitcher to deliver a quality start, the offense to score 4 or more runs, and to hold a lead after 8 innings. In the American League in 2012 (entering Friday) a team whose starter delivered a quality start had a winning percentage of  .638 (763 – 354), teams that scored 4 or more runs had a winning percentage of .746 (906 -305), and teams holding a lead after 8 innings had a winning percentage of .954 (946-46).

Jul 13, 2012; Toronto, ON, Canada; Cleveland Indians bench coach

Jr. (15) during their game against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre. The Indians beat the Blue Jays 1-0. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-US PRESSWIRE

In Sandy Alomar Jr.’s debut the Indians followed that winning script in defeating the Kansas City Royals 8-5 earning his first big league victory. David Huff delivered a quality start,  the offense delivered 16 hits in scoring 8 runs, and Chris Perez shut the door in the ninth to seal the victory. With the victory the Indians record stands at 66-91, Huff improved his record to 3-0, and Perez earned his 39th save.

David Huff started for the Indians allowing 3R/ER on 8 hits while striking out 5 and walking 0 in 6 innings of work. He appeared shaky early, allowing 5 hits in the first 1.1innings of work, before settling down and retiring the next 9 Royals in a row.  Alomar made his first pitching change as the Tribe’s skipper electing to remove Huff after the sixth inning and replaced him with Cody Allen who worked a scoreless 7th. Scott Maine came in to work the 8th inning was touched up for 2 runs on 3 consecutive hits before being replaced by Joe Smith who escaped further damage by retiring the next 3 Royals he faced. Smith gave way to Chris Perez who worked a perfect ninth to earn his 39th save on the year.

Will Smith started for the Royals and was knocked around by the Indians who battered him for 6R/ER on 9 hits striking out 2 and walking 2. He was replaced by Everett Teaford who did not fare much better in his 3 innings of work giving up 2R/ER on 6 hits while striking out 1 and walking 0.  Vin Mazzaro (1.1 innings) and Greg Holland (0.2 innings) combined to work 2 scoreless innings. The loss goes to Will Smith whose record drops to 6-9 and the Royals see their record drop to 70-87.

The Royals jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Salvador Perez led off with a single, advanced to second on a one-out single by Mike Moustakas, and came around to score on a RBI double off the bat of Adam Moore.

The Indians came storming back to take a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the second thanks to 5 straight hits.  Lonnie

Sep 9, 2011; Chicago, IL, USA; Cleveland Indians third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall hits a two-run home run during the sixth inning against the Chicago White Sox at US Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE

Chisenhall started the rally with a 1-out opposite field single, advanced to third on a Brent Lillibridge single, and came around to score the Indians first run on a Ezequiel Carrera single. The Indians took a 2-1 lead as Brent Lillibridge came in to score on a Shin-Soo Choo double off the wall in left and Carrera scored on a seeing eye single past a drawn in infield off the bat of Cord Phelps that gave the Tribe a 3-1 lead.

The Indians extended their lead to 4-1 in the fifth on a 2-out RBI double off the bat of Lonnie Chisenhall scoring Russ Canzler who had singled all the way from first base.

The fun continued for the Indians in the fifth as they extended their lead to 6-1 after Ezequiel Carrera lead off the inning with a single and scored all the way from first base on a Shin-Soo Choo double off the wall in left to put the Tribe up 5-1. Will Smith‘s night was over and Everett Teaford came and gave up a single to Cord Phelps which moved Choo  to third and he came in to score on a fielders choice off the bat of Jason Kipnis.

The Indians scored 2 more runs in the 8th inning and extend their lead to 8-1. Lonnie Chisenhall led off the inning with his 3rd hit and advanced to second when Everett Teaford hit Brent Lillibridge with a pitch. Ezequiel Carrera laid down a bunt but Teaford fell as he came off the mound to field the ball and everyone was safe. He got Shin Soo-Choo to ground the ball to Johnny Giavotella who threw home to force out Lonnie Chisenhall and for the first out and then Giovotella snared a line drive off the bat of Cord Phelps for the second out but was unable to escape further damage as Jason Kipnis delivered a 2-out 2 RBI single to scoring Brent Lillibridge and Ezequiel Carrera.

The Royals cut the Indians lead to 8-3 in the 6th inning on the strength of Billy Butlers 29th homer of the season scoring Alex Gordon who had reached on a single.

The Royals rallied to chop the Indians lead to 8-5 in the 8th inning.. Alex Gordon led off with a single and advanced to third on a Billy Butler double and both came in to score on a Salvador Perez single which knocked Scott Maine out of the game before he could retire a batter. Joe Smith replaced Maine and his first pitch was ruled a passed ball and Perez advanced to second.

Source:

The Good: David Huff, The Offense, & Sandy Alomar Jr.

• Sandy Alomar Jr. earns a victory in his managerial debut with the Indians.
• David Huff was shaky in the first inning plus but settled down to work a solid 6 innings. The only “mistake” he made was on an inside fastball to Billy Butler who drove it out for a 2-run homer. The word mistake is in quotes because it wasn’t that bad of a pitch.
• Lonnie Chisenhall, Cord Phelps, and Ezequiel Carrera all had three hits. The bottom third of the Tribe’s order (Chisenhall, Lilliquist, Carrera) combined to go 8 for 12 with 6 runs scored and 2 RBI’s.

The Bad: 

Scott Maine was called on to work the eighth inning with the Indians holding a 8-3 lead. He was unable to retire a batter while allowing 2 runs to score before being removed for Joe Smith.