Sunday, June 26, 2011
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO
Cleveland reliever Tony Sipp knew a balk call was coming even before home plate umpire Bob Davidson’s signal.
The Indians’ left-hander paused in his delivery, and no matter how much manager Manny Acta tried to defend the move that forced in the only run of the game, Sipp wasn’t having it.
“It was just a mental lapse,” Sipp said following Cleveland’s 1-0 loss to the Giants on Saturday. “I was supposed to stay set until I actually got a sign that I liked but I started moving too early and paused. It didn’t move much but I felt it. I knew I balked.”
Sipp was one of the few people in Indians gear who did.
Acta didn’t get a good look at it, but spent much of his post-game talk deflecting attention from it. Acta pointed to the two errors committed by second baseman Cord Phelps and the two-out eight-pitch walk to Andres Torres that preceded the balk call instead.
“We put ourselves in that spot by making the two errors and the walk,” Acta said. “I would never think it’s a balk when it’s my guy. I guess they felt that he started and stopped. [But] we didn’t lose the game because of a balk.”
A day that began with bad news for the Indians ended even worse.
Cleveland right fielder Shin-Soo Choo said he will likely have surgery on his broken left thumb after it was hit Friday night by a pitch from Jonathan Sanchez.
Sipp slightly flinched his left arm before even throwing a pitch to Emmanuel Burriss, allowing Miguel Tejada to score from third. That, along with the two errors by Phelps, spoiled a strong start by Justin Masterson (5-6).
“I was thinking [of] another sign,” Sipp said of the balk. “To have it end like that, I’d rather give up a home run, at least something [that’s] a physical error instead of mental.”
Matt Cain (7-4) pitched seven-plus innings of four-hit ball in another strong outing. He struck out six and walked one to keep the offensively challenged Giants close.
Brian Wilson pitched a scoreless ninth for his 23rd save in 25 chances.
The Indians also had some base-running gaffes.
Pinch-runner Adam Everett was tagged out in a rundown between third and home on a groundball with one out in the eighth. Michael Brantley, standing on second, didn’t advance to third — and he might’ve scored on a passed ball later in the inning.
Masterson exited after 52/3 innings, allowing the one unearned run on four hits. He struck out five and walked two, but his team gave him little support.
“It’s one of those unfortunate losses,” said Masterson, who hasn’t won since April 26. “We were so close and yet it was just out of reach for us to go take it. You don’t want to lose that way but we’re going to keep going.”
Giants 4, Indians 3
Andres Torres scored the deciding run from third base on Aubrey Huff’s long foul out in the sixth inning of Friday night’s game. The Giants managed only six hits but took advantage of two errors by Cleveland first baseman Carlos Santana to score three unearned runs off starter Carlos Carrasco.