Indians balk at chance to win game

By DENNIS MANOLOFF

The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Cleveland

For a team desperately seeking victories, what happened in the third inning Wednesday could have been the gift of gifts, a diamond ring tumbling out of the Cracker Jack box.

The Indians watched the opposing pitcher, White Sox lefty Mark Buehrle, exit healthy in a scoreless game — and they had almost nothing to do with it.

Buehrle was ejected by first-base umpire Joe West, who called him for his second balk on moves to first base. One inning earlier, West tossed Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen following Buehrle’s initial balk.

The Indians showed their gratitude by performing poorly until the ninth, when they scored three and loaded the bases with one out. But Austin Kearns struck out and Russell Branyan flied out against Bobby Jenks to seal a 5-4 defeat.

The Indians (17-28) committed a season-high four errors in losing for the eighth time in 10 games. They served up the clunker less than 24 hours after arguably their best all-around performance in a 7-3 victory Tuesday night. They have dropped four straight series.

“We put up a fight, but we continue to be inconsistent with situational hitting,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “That hurt us early in the game, and we had to play catch-up.”

Tribe hitters went 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base.

“It’s disappointing because the game plan for every team, every day, is to get the other starter out and get to the guys in the middle,” Acta said.

“They’re in the middle for a reason. You need to attack those guys.”