Yankees Rough Up Masterson, Indians, 7-4

On Monday night, the Yankees got the chance to exact some revenge on the Indians and Justin Masterson. They did not pass it up. A few weeks after being humiliated in a 1-0 complete game shutout by the big righty, the Yankees came out guns blazing last night. In the end, they scored 7 runs on 9 hits and 3 walks off of Masterson and beat up on the Indians on their way to a 7-4 victory.

Masterson, who has been so good for much of the year, struggled mightily last night. It’s not surprising considering the Yankees trotted out a lineup that included seven left-handed bats. For all of the good Masterson has been able to accomplish this year, left-handed bats have still been the great neutralizer.

As for the game itself, the tribe did keep things close for the majority of the night. They took the lead in the top half of the third when Nick Swisher‘s RBI ground out scored Michael Bourn. Masterson couldn’t make the lead hold up, though. In the bottom of the frame Mark Teixeira delivered the big blow of the game, a grand slam to right to put the Yankees up 4-1. Things looked bleak, but give the Tribe credit. they clawed their way back.

In the top of the fifth, Micke Avlies delivered a sac fly to cut the lead in half, 4-2. A few batters later Carlos Santana struck with a two out, RBI ground rule double off of the glove of the Yankees’ third baseman. With the game tied, Masterson came back out to the mound looking to keep things close and provide his offense with an oppotunity to pull the game out in the end. It wasn’t meant to be, however.

In the bottom of the sixth, Brett Garnder put the Yankees ahead with a two run single to center. An inning later, Travis Hafner stepped to the plate looking to add a bit of insurance. He did not disappoint. Hafner drilled a 2-2 offering from Masterson deep into the seats in right field to put the Yankees up by a score of 7-4. From that point, all the Indians could do was wait for the inevitable. David Robertson shut them down in the eighth and then gave way to Mariano Rivera in the ninth for his 20th save of the season.

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The Good: The Indians ability to claw their way out of a hole was encouraging. Michael Bourn and Mike Aviles combined to go 5 for 9 at the top of the lineup. Other than that, this felt like a disappointing effort. The Yankees have been struggling and to not take advantage of that was a bit disheartening.

The Bad: Asdrubal Cabrera left the game with what looked like a pretty serious injury to his quad. While he ran to first after hitting a grounder up the middle, Cabrera stumbled and took a pretty hard tumble. One look at the replay and it looked like Cabrera had taken sniper fire. It looked bad and we probably shouldn’t expect him back any time soon.