Indians waste chances against O’s

Associated Press

baltimore

Another fielding gem by Asdrubal Cabrera and a three-run first inning turned out to be the highlights of a frustrating game for the Cleveland Indians, who ended up lamenting several missed opportunities and another knee injury to Grady Sizemore.

The Indians wasted 10 hits and four walks in an 8-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday, and manager Manny Acta was not at all pleased after watching his team strand 11 and go 2 for 8 with runners in scoring position.

“We left an army of guys on the bases, and that really hurts at the end,” Acta said.

Sizemore twisted his right knee while rounding first base on a first-inning double. He was removed from the game and will be examined in Cleveland today to determine the extent of the injury. Sizemore has already spent time on the disabled list this season with a bruised right kneecap.

“It’s the same knee that he had the contusion, not the surgically repaired one,” Acta said. “He got a quick turn around first base and it hurt him a little bit.”

Cabrera, the AL starting shortstop in the All-Star game, added more footage to his ever-expanding highlight reel. With a runner on first base in the fourth, Cabrera sprinted behind second base to reach Markakis’ grounder. As his momentum carried him toward the outfield grass, he flipped a no-look, underhand toss to second baseman Luis Valbuena, whose relay completed the stunning double play.

That was one of the only bright spots for the Indians, who have dropped five of seven. Travis Hafner and Carlos Santana homered in the first, but Cleveland allowed eight unanswered runs over the final eight innings.

“We just left too many people on base, ultimately,” Hafner said. “That really hurt us.”

Robert Andino homered and had a career-high four RBIs, and Adam Jones, Nick Markakis and Matt Wieters hit solo shots for the Orioles.

Baltimore is riding its first winning streak since June 19-20 after entering the weekend with nine straight defeats, including the first two games of this series.

Andino led the way. The first three-run homer of his career put Baltimore up 4-3 in the fifth, and a deftly executed suicide squeeze in the seventh helped pad the margin.

Limited to a pair of hits by Jeanmar Gomez and trailing 3-1 in the fifth, Baltimore got singles from Wieters and Mark Reynolds before Andino hit a 3-1 pitch into the front row of the left-field seats. It was his eighth home run in 3,524 career at-bats.

“That inning, I think what really hurt [Gomez] was the 0-2 pitch to Reynolds,” Acta said. “He wasn’t able to put him away and then the whole thing escalated.”

Markakis homered in the sixth to chase Gomez (0-2), recalled from Triple-A Columbus before the game.

“I threw the ball pretty well the first four innings,” Gomez said. “The fifth inning, the problem was I got behind the count.”

Baltimore starter Mitch Atkins gave up six hits, including a pair of homers, in three innings. The right-hander needed 77 pitches to get nine outs.

He was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk after the game.