Oops! Tribe errors hurt in loss to White Sox

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

The Cleveland Indians’ list of problems seems to grow by the day.

Already hampered by a stagnant offense, the Indians committed three errors — leading to three unearned runs — in Sunday’s 4-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

A dropped fly ball by rookie center fielder Ezequiel Carrera, a fielding error by usually sure-handed shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and a throwing error by catcher Carlos Santana spoiled another strong outing by Justin Masterson, who allowed one earned run in seven innings.

Manager Manny Acta’s team has lost four straight and nine of 13 as it struggles to stay in the AL Central race.

“When you’re not scoring runs, you can’t be giving outs away,” Acta said. “That was the case today.”

Masterson (8-7) allowed his only earned run in the first, but the Indians tied the game on Carrera’s RBI single in the fifth.

Adam Dunn lofted a pitch from Masterson to straightaway center with two outs in the sixth and runners on first and second.

Carrera camped under the towering fly near the warning track. He looked up, stumbled to his right, then ducked as the ball glanced off his glove and fell to the ground.

It put Chicago ahead 3-1, scoring Omar Vizquel, who had singled, and Paul Konerko, who was intentionally walked to face Dunn, hitting .161.

Carrera, called up from Triple-A Columbus during the All-Star break, is replacing Grady Sizemore, who will be out until September with a sports hernia and a knee injury.

“I stumbled a little bit when I reached the warning track,” Carrera said through bullpen catcher Francisco Morales, who served as translator. “I was right underneath it, but when I stumbled, my head moved a little bit and I lost sight of it.

“I thought I was in the right spot. I just missed it.”

Masterson admitted the error was deflating, but he struck out Carlos Quentin to end the inning.

“I’m sure there’s a hint of that, but you have to bear down and get the next guy,” he said. “There’s no time to weep or moan. No one is going to feel sorry for you.”

A lack of run support has been a problem for Masterson all season. He has allowed two earned runs or less eight times in his last nine starts, but is only 3-3 in that stretch.

“As a team, we should have won,” Masterson said. “Unfortunately, we made a few mistakes and it didn’t happen. For me, I continue to battle. I felt like I did what I needed to do. I can’t do much more than that.”

Acta is looking for answers to turn around his struggling team.

“We need to win a ballgame,” he said. “That’s the bottom line.”

Edwin Jackson (7-7) beat Cleveland for the ninth straight time. He allowed one run and four hits over six innings to go to 9-1 in his career against Cleveland. He is 9-0 with a 2.61 ERA against the Indians since losing to them on Aug. 17, 2007, when he was with Tampa Bay.

The White took both games of the rain-shortened two-game series at Progressive Field.

“Cleveland’s ahead of us,” Jackson said. “We have to capitalize against them. This was a good win.”

The Indians fell to 1-6 against the White Sox this season.

Sergio Santos got the final two outs for his 20th save in 23 chances.

The Indians got one of the runs back in their sixth. Asdrubal Cabrera walked and took off for second before Travis Hafner lined a ball to right-center. Cabrera never stopped, scoring all the way from first on the hard-hit single to make it 3-2.

Two more Cleveland errors restored Chicago’s two-run lead in the seventh. Alex Rios reached when Cabrera backed up on his soft liner, which bounced on the infield dirt and then off the shortstop’s glove. Rios stole second and continued to third when Santana threw wildly. Mark Teahen singled home Rios to make it 4-2.