Travis Hafner returned to the Indians lineup on Tuesday evening and immediately made an impact.  Batting fifth, he went 2-4 with a walk, as the Cleveland Indians defeated the Baltimore Orioles 6-1.

Jeremy Sowers put together a string of ten straight batters twice and picked up the win, going eight strong innings, giving up four hits, a walk, one earned run, and recording seven strikeouts in victory.

While the Indians scored six, it wasn’t in their normal breakout style.  They pecked away, putting up one in every inning but the second, sixth, and ninth.  None of the runs came via the long ball. 

In the first, Grady Sizemore got the Indians rolling by taking a walk and swiping second, his 37^th stolen base on the season.  With two out, Jhonny Peralta singled, scoring Sizemore.  Travis Hafner registered his first hit during his first at bat, singling Peralta to second, but the Indians could do no more damage, even though they loaded the bases on a Kelly Shoppach walk.  Michael Aubrey flied out to end the inning.

In the fifth, Aubrey came through.  With two out and Peralta and Hafner on first and second, Aubrey singled to center, scoring Peralta.

The Indians would manufacture a run in the fourth as well.  Asdrubal Cabrera walked, then ended up scoring on a David Dellucci triple.

The Orioles scored their only run of the game in the bottom of the fourth.  Nick Markakis walked.  Aubrey Huff doubled, and Ramon Hernandez grounded out, scoring Markakis.

The Indians continued their one-run wonder innings in the fifth, seventh, and eighth.  In the fifth, doubles by Shoppach and Marte resulted in a run.  The seventh it was Shoppach again crossing the plate, this time via a walk, an Aubrey single, a Marte single, and a Cabrera sacrifice fly.   

In the eighth, Shoppach was on the other end of the run, driving in Franklin Gutierrez with a double, after he singled to right and Hafner was intentionally walked, putting runners on first and second. 

All in all, a very good night by Shoppach.  He ended the day two for three, scored a pair, and drove in one. 

Baltimore used six pitchers in this one.  Starter Radhames Liz took the loss, going 4.2 while surrendering eight hits and four runs. 

All told, the Indians tallied 12 hits.  Marte got two of the hits, raising his batting average to .207 on the year. 

The Orioles and Indians go at it two more times in this four game set.  Wednesday night marks Scott Lewis MLB debut.  He’ll go against Chris Waters.  Game time is 7:05. 

Assuming the addition of Lewis to the starting rotation of the Tribe means they’ll go six for the rest of the season, Cliff Lee would not get enough starts to reach 25 wins.

Aubrey Huff took two games off to hang out with his wife and welcome his son into the world, then returned and hit a grand slam, the biggest of the four home runs the Orioles pounded, and Baltimore beat the Cleveland Indians 14-3 Monday night in Baltimore.

The stat line read 11 hits apiece for both teams, but the game wasn’t anywhere as close as the hit totals might suggest.

The Indians have been the recipients of some great starting pitching all year, so they were due to get slammed from by somebody.  Fausto Carmona gave up seven runs on six hits, lasting 5.1 innings and surrendering one of the four Baltimore home runs.  As bad as his stat line looked, he really didn’t pitch that badly until the sixth.

The Indians held the lead early, scoring one run in the second on a Shin-Soo Choo double, a Ryan Garko walk, and an Asdrubal Cabrera double that scored Choo.

Baltimore answered the run in the bottom half of the inning, stringing together a pair of singles by Huff and Ramon Hernandez that put Huff on third.  Luke Scott hit into a fielder’s choice, but it plated Huff making it a 1-1 affair.

The Indians went back on top in the fourth.  Choo once again started things off, singling.  Garko singled as well.  With runners on first and second, Cabrera singled Choo home and Garko to third.  Franklin Gutierrez hit a sacrifice fly that scored Garko, and the Indians were up 3-1. 

Then the home runs started.  Scott hit his 22^nd of the year, narrowing the Indians lead to 3-2.

In the bottom of the sixth, Baltimore broke the game wide open, putting up a seven spot, the highlight being Aubrey’s grand slam. 

Carmona got himself into trouble with the walk, issuing a free pass to Hernandez and Kevin Millar with a Scott single sandwiched in between.  Salazar came on as a pinch hitter and singled home Hernandez and Scott.  Carmona issued his third free ride of the inning to Roberts, and he was gone.

Rincon relieved, and gave up a single to Adam Jones, scoring Millar.  With the bases still loaded, Huff hit his grand slam, capping the seven run inning and making it a 9-3 Orioles lead.

The home-run derby reconvened in the bottom of the eighth.  With Brendon Donelly on the hill, he gave up a pair of walks to Juan Castro and Brian Roberts, then dished up a home run ball to Adam Jones on his first offering.  After a Huff single, Hernandez went yard, making it 14-3 Baltimore, and that would be the way it ended.

Huff led the way for Baltimore, going 3-5 with 4 RBI.  That put him over the 100 mark for the year at 102.  Jones also went 3-5 with 4 RBI for Baltimore. Cabrera paced the Tribe with a 3-3 night and two RBI’s, his 31^st and 32^nd of the season.

The two teams meet again Tuesday at 7:05.  Jeremy Sowers (2-8, 5.97 ERA) versus Radhames Liz(5-4, 7.92 ERA).

Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’….. Along…..

Cliff Lee won his 21^st of the season Sunday against the Kansas City Royals, but they did make him work for it.  He also had to rely on Victor Martinez to knock in all three of the Indians runs, but hey, that’s what teammates are for, right?

Since returning from the disabled list, Martinez is 7-21, not to shabby when you’ve had most of the summer off due to injury.

Lee went seven and a third, giving up seven hits, one earned run, a walk and registered five strikeouts in the victory.  He even lowered his ERA a bit to 2.28.  All in a days work.

The Royals did their best to hand Lee his third loss of the season, but every time he got into a jam, he also bailed himself out. 

In the bottom of the fourth, the Royals put runners on first and second with one out.  Lee picked up one of his five strikeouts for the second out, and induced a ground ball to squeak out of that inning.

In the sixth, he ended up costing himself a run, hitting the first batter Jose Guillen with a pitch.   Guillen later scored on a pair of singles strung together by John Buck and Alberto Callaspo.  Once again, Lee staved off the big inning by getting a fly-out and limiting the damage to one run.

In the eighth the Indians used a trifecta of pitchers to hold off the Royals.  Lee gave up a lead-off single to Guillen, then got a fly ball out.  Rafael Perez came on, but gave up a single to Mark Teahen, putting runners on first and second.  He struck out Buck for the second out, and Rafael Betancourt came on, getting Callaspo to fly out, preserving Lee’s 3-1 lead.

Jensen Lewis earned his eighth save of the season not giving up a hit, issuing a free pass with two out, but striking out the last batter to end the game.

On the Indians offensive side, they put up a pair of runs in the first inning.  After two quick outs, Shin-Soo Choo started things for the Indians with a single.  Jhonny Peralta also singled, moving Choo over to second.  Victor Martinez picked up his first two RBI’s of the game by singling both Choo and Peralta home.  Ryan Garko flied out, and the top of the first ended with the Indians on top 2-0.

Their only other run came off the bat of Choo and Martinez again, with both hitting doubles, Choo scoring, and Martinez picking up the third of his three RBI’s.

Royals starter Zack Greinke went six innings, giving up five hits and all three earned runs, taking the loss for the Royals.  He moves to 10-10 on the year. 

Cleveland heads to the east coast for a four game set against Baltimore still chasing that elusive .500 mark for the season.  Fausto Carmona (8-5, 4,51 ERA) battles Lefty Garret Olson (8-7, 6.53 ERA) on a 7:05 Monday evening start time.

The Indians are 69-72 on the year, 8 games back of the Minnesota Twins, and 10.5 games behind division leader the Chicago White Sox.

The Indians sent the entire lineup to the plate in the top of the fifth, reeling off six runs in route to a 9-3 victory on Friday night to open the series in Kansas City against the Royals. 

Anthony Reyes, the Indians starting pitcher, only went three innings.  He had tightness in hit throwing arm during warm-ups that never seemed to loosen up, so he was pulled even though he’d pitched one-hit ball through three.

When he left, the Indians were up 2-0.  Royals starting pitcher Brandon Duckworth was his own worst enemy in this inning.  He started the top of the second with a walk to Jhonny Peralta.  Victor Martinez singled Peralta over to second.  Duckworth then walked Shin-Soo Choo on a full count. 

He almost bailed himself out of the inning after getting Ryan Garko to ground into a double play that allowed Peralta to score, but another free pass on four pitches to Franklin Gutierrez gave Asdrubal Cabrera the chance to single in Martinez, making it 2-0 Indians.

Edward Mujica ended up with the win.  He relieved Reyes in the fourth, went two innings, and was the recipient of the six run Indians inning.  He pitched two innings, allowing four hits and no runs.

Cabrera started the six run fifth with a single.  Grady Sizemore singling him over to third.  Carroll also singled, scoring Cabrera.  Those three hits sent Duckworth to the showers, and both runners would eventually score, handing Duckworth the loss. 

Joel Peralta relieved Duckworth, and gave up an infield single to David Dellucci, scoring Sizemore.  Next up was the Indians Jhonny Peralta.  In the battle of the Peraltas, Jhonny won, singling in Carroll.  Martinez singled next, scoring Dellucci. 

That was it for Kansas City Peralta, as he could not even register an out.  That brought on Yashuhiko Yabuta.  Choo greeted him with an infield single, scoring Peralta.  Ryan Garko, or affectionately known as Abner Double Play, dished up the first two outs of the inning by hitting into, you guessed it, a double play, but he did score Martinez from third.  Gutierrez grounded out and the single-fest six-run inning was over.

All told, the Indians had seven singles in a row during this six run outburst.

The Royals registered a hit parade of their own in the bottom of the seventh.  They went double-single-single-double in their three run inning. 

Ross Gload doubled off the third Indians pitcher of the night Tom Mastny.  After a Roberto Callaspo fly-out, Kila Ka’aihue singled moving Gload over to third.  David DeJesus hit a sacrifice fly that scored Gload.  Mike Aviles singled, and with runners on first and third, Jose Guillen doubled in both runners, making it 8-3 Indians.

Billy Butler grounded out to close out the inning.

Mujica was on the hook for all three Royals runs; another shaky outing for him.  Mujica is the poster child for the Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde season the Indians bullpen help has exhibited all season.

The Indians tacked on one more in the top of the ninth on a Peralta walk, a Choo single, and a Garko single that scored Peralta.  Probably felt good not to hit into a double play!!

Masa Kobayashi pitched the ninth for Cleveland going 1-2-3 on a pair of ground-outs and a line-out.

The Indians scored nine runs on twelve hits, while Kansas City could only muster three runs on a nine hit night.

Franklin Gutierrez was the only Indian not getting a hit in this one.  Carroll, Martinez, Choo, and Cabrera all had a two-hit night.

The Royals got two hits and two RBI from Jose Guillen.

These two meet for the second of three Saturday evening at 7:10.  Zach Jackson(0-1, 6.00 ERA) takes on Gil Meche(10-10, 4.07 ERA).

Sunday’s game features twenty game winner Cliff Lee against Zack Greinke. 

The Indians sellout record is close to being broken by the Boston Red Sox this coming Monday.  Check out the full story.

Jeremy Sowers and Javier Vasquez went toe-to-toe for awhile, with Sowers surrendering the lone hit through four.  In the fifth, the White Sox got to him.  In the end Sowers ended up with the loss, and Vasquez the win, the White Sox leaving Cleveland 4-2 victors.

Sowers, the victim of no run support pretty much every time he takes the hill, gave up a home run to Nick Swisher (23) to lead off the fifth, then allowed a single to Josh Fields. 

Fields ended up scoring later in the inning after being moved over to second on catcher Toby Hall’s ground out, and a two out double by Orlando Cabrera.  The White Sox, trying to avoid a sweep of the series at the hands of the Indians, were up 2-0.

They’d add two more in the top of the sixth, again via the long ball.  Alexei Ramirez added to Sowers’ woes with a two run home run (16) knocking in Jermaine Dye who’d reached base on a single two batters earlier.

The Indians would answer with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning, narrowing the score to 4-2.  Asdrubal Cabrera opened the inning with a single, and Grady Sizemore immediately doubled him over to third.

They remained stuck on their respective bases while David Dellucci grounded out, and Ben Francisco whiffed for outs number one and two.  Jhonny Peralta delivered a two out double to right field, scoring both Cabrera and Sizemore.  That upped his RBI total to 77 on the year. 

Juan Rincon, who’d relieved Sowers in with one out in the sixth, went 2.2 innings - holding Cleveland close through 7.2 innings.  After giving up his first hit of the night, a two-out single off the bat of Paul Konerko, Rafael Betancourt came on in relief.  The White Sox sent in Jerry Owens as a pinch runner for Konerko, but he didn’t get in much running as Betancourt struck out Ramirez to end the inning.

Chicago’s Octavio Dotel relieved in the seventh, walking Sal Fasano after registering an out to Ryan Garko.  Jamey Carroll came on as a pinch runner for Fasano, a guy that would never be mistaken for a base stealer, and moved to second when Cabrera bunt-singled himself to first.  This happened after a pinch hitting Victory Martinez foul out.

With two gone, Franklin Gutierrez pinch hit for Dellucci and hit a fly-out to center, wiping out a golden opportunity with men on. 

The Indians put runners on the base paths again in the eighth.  Francisco started things off with a single.  Peralta flied out to right, but Shin-Soo Choo singled Francisco to third.  That prompted White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen a trip to the mound and he didn’t waste any time bringing out closer Bobby Jenks.  Jenks trying for his 28^th save of the season, would need five outs to put this one to rest.  His first two pitches producing two outs via the double play, as Garko grounded to third baseman Juan Uribe, starting the 5-4-3 inning killer.

The Indians stuck with Betancourt in the ninth, and he mowed the first two Sox down in order.  Jim Thome came in as a pinch hitter for Fields, and the Indians countered with Rich Rundles.

You are probably thinking the same thing I am.  WHO?  Rundles is a September call up and gave the Indians the Lefty- Lefty pairing against Thome.  Rundles walked Thome on four pitches.  Welcome to the Majors kid!  Imagine your first outing you go up against a 500 home-run club hitter.  I’d a walked him too. 

That ended Rundles MLB pitching debut, as the Tribe went to Jensen Lewis, while Chicago countered with Getz as a pinch runner.  He took a stab at swiping second, and Shoppach threw him out to end the Chicago’s chance at tacking on an additional run.

Down to their last three outs, Carroll singled, but Shoppach hit a ground ball double play for the first two outs.  Cabrera struck out, and the Chicago White Sox salvaged game three, avoiding a sweep in the process. 

The Indians managed just two runs on nine hits.  The White Sox picked up four runs on seven hits. 

Chicago opened up a half game lead on the Minnesota Twins.  The Twins are in Toronto later Wednesday night. 

Cleveland resumes play Friday night in Kansas City at 8:10 PM.  Anthony Reyes(2.93 ERA) pitches against Brandon Duckworth (4.91 ERA).

The Indians offensive scoring train is back on track after a brief hiatus while Seattle was in town.  Cleveland hitters knocked John Danks out of the game after just four innings, tagging him for eight hits and four runs in a 9-3 win.  With the victory, and a Minnesota loss, Cleveland is 9.5 games back of the White Sox and the Twins in the AL Central.

The Indians still have seven games against the front runners, four more playing the White Sox, and a set of three against the Twins.  A three game set in Chicago closes out the Indians season.

While only a white-hot September by the Indians and a meltdown by both Chicago and Minnesota is about the only chance Cleveland has, it’s better than nothing.

Fausto Carmona registered all zeros on the scoreboard until the top of the sixth, giving up all three Chicago runs before yielding to Rafael Betancourt.  Betancourt slammed the door on the rally by striking out Jerry Owens for the third out.

Victor Martinez hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot, in the bottom of the second, opening up a 2-0 Indians lead.  No, that is not a typo.  If anyone would have predicted Martinez first home run of the season would come on September 2^nd prior to the season starting, they should definitely start playing their hunches in the Ohio Lotto.

The Indians would stretch the lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth.  Andy Marte singled with one out, and Asdrubal Cabrera followed with a single as well.  After a Grady Sizemore foul-out, Franklin Gutierrez delivered a double to right field, scoring both Marte and Cabrera. 

In the top of the sixth, Chicago closed the gap to 4-3.  Carmona started the inning with a strikeout of A.J. Pierzynski.  After issuing a walk to Jermaine Dye, ex-Indian and pain-in-the-Indians-rear Jim Thome singled Dye over to third.  Carmona threw a wild pitch to Paul Konerko, and the Sox were on the board.  Konerko then connected with a single, moving Thome to third.  Nick Swisher hit a sac-fly that scored Thome.  The next batter, Alexei Ramirez, was hit by a pitch, putting runners on first and second.  The White Sox sent Juan Uribe in as a pinch hitter for Joe Crede, and he delivered with a double to left, scoring Konerko and putting the tying run on third base.  That ended Carmona’s evening and his win was definitely in jeopardy.  That’s when Betancourt pulled a strike-out from his bag of tricks and bestowed it neatly on Owens, preserving a 4-3 lead and Carmona’s eventual victory.  Somebody owes somebody a steak.

The Indians weren’t content to sit on the 4-3 lead, breaking out the hitting sticks and the walking shoes for five runs in the bottom of the seventh.  Gutierrez opened the inning with a walk and Francisco was beaned, putting runners on first and second with nary a hit.  Jhonny Peralta added to his RBI total(75) on the year by singling home Gutierrez.  That prompted a pitching change by the Sox.  Octavio Dotel came on and got the first two outs of the inning, getting Martinez on a pop-out, and a ground-out fielder’s choice by Ryan Garko that erased Peralta at second.  Kelly Shoppach walked, loading the bases.  Shin-Soo Choo pinch hit for Marte and drew a free pass, walking home Francisco.  Cabrera singled, scoring both Garko and Shoppach.  Sizemore singled, scoring Choo and moving Cabrera over to second.  The White Sox brought in Mike McDougal, and he got the final out of the inning on a Gutierrez fielder’s choice ground-out.  9-3 Indians.

Betancourt pitched an inning and registered a hold.  Rafael Perez pitched an inning and a third, also getting a hold while surrendering no runs and one hit.  Brendan Donnelly pitched a one hit ninth finishing out the game.

The Indians ended up with nine runs on thirteen hits.  Everyone but Choo registered a hit, and he drew a walk in his only at  bat.  Asdrubal Cabrera led the way with three hits and two RBI, and also scored a run.

The White Sox managed three runs on seven hits, dropping their record to 77-61.  They stayed dead-locked with Minnesota for first place, since the Twins lost to Toronto 7-5.

The Indians and White Sox close out the three-game set this afternoon with a 12:05 start time.  This is the last meeting of these two in Progressive Field this year.  They still have a three game series in Chicago to close out the season.  Jeremy Sowers (2-7,5.92 ERA) will face off against Javier Vasquez (10-12, 4.38 ERA).

After winning ten in a row, crawling to within two games of .500, then lose three in a row, the Indians needed some sort of spark.  Enter Cliff Lee.  Baseball’s first 20 game winner of the season, Lee was  masterful in a 5-0 victory over AL Central leader the Chicago White Sox.

Lee pitched a complete game five hit shutout, not allowing a walk, and striking out four in the victory.  His shutout comes on the heels of ex-teammate CC Sabathia’s one-hit complete game just days before. 

Could the Cy-Young winners from both leagues be opening-day teammates?  Probably not.  While Lee is the probable winner in the AL, Sabathia is a long shot in the NL given the likes of Arizona’s Brandon Webb.  Then again, Webb missed his 20^th win in a meltdown during his last start.

Lee started the game by giving up a two of the five hits he surrendered all game, but with runners on first and second and nobody out, Lee got a strikeout and a Jermaine Dye line drive double play, getting out of the inning with no damage.

The Indians would get the only run they’d need in the bottom of the second.  Jhonny Peralta opened the inning by drawing a walk.  Ryan Garko singled Peralta over to second, and Peralta scored on a Shin-Soo Choo single, making it 1-0 Tribe.

The Indians added a runs in each of the next two innings, roughing up White Sox starter Clayton Richard for six hits and four runs, three of them earned, in four innings of work. 

In the third, the Indians went up 2-0 after Grady Sizemore landed on second base after a routine ground-out to Richard turned into an error and Sizemore standing on second base after the overthrow to first.  Ben Francisco delivered a clutch single, scoring Sizemore.

The Indians had back-to-back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the fourth, resulting in a 4-0 lead.  With two out, Franklin Gutierrez doubled.  Kelly Shoppach doubled him home, and Asdrubal Cabrera doubled Shoppach in before Sizemore struck out to end the inning.

The Indians tacked on one more run in the bottom of the eighth.  Garko singled.  Choo doubled Garko over to third, and after Gutierrez was hit by a pitch, loading the bases Cabrera got his second RBI of the night on a sac fly that scored Garko.  The Indians couldn’t get anyone else across the plate, but with a five run lead and Lee heading out for the finishing touch on his shutout, it didn’t matter.

Lee did allow his fourth and fifth hits in the bottom of the ninth, but closed out the game the same way he opened it, with a double play ball, this time a ground-out, that sealed the deal and made Lee the first Indians pitcher to win 20 since Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry did it in 1974.

The only other Indians pitchers to ever make twenty wins were Bob Feller and Bob Lemon, both Hall of Fame inductees - not bad company. 

The Indians move to 10.5 of the White Sox with the win.  The loss puts the Sox in a virtual dead-lock for first place with the Minnesota Twins at 77-66.  The Indians are sitting at 66-70.

These two go again with a 7:05 start time.  Fausto Carmona(7-5,4.50 ERA) takes the hill against John Danks(10-7, 3.3 ERA)