Indians starter Talbot has best outing of spring in win

Associated Press

GOODYEAR, Ariz.

Mitch Talbot suddenly found his form. Cleveland reliever Jensen Lewis lost his touch just as quickly.

Talbot, the Indians’ No. 3 starter, worked five strong innings in a 9-7 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday. Lewis came on with two outs and a 6-1 lead in the seventh and promptly yielded three-run homers to Eric Farris and Mike Rivera. Milwaukee closer John Axford then gave up three runs in the bottom half.

Talbot let out a sigh of relief as he entered the clubhouse — and it wasn’t from running wind sprints after the best outing of his four starts this spring.

“I made a couple adjustments and felt a lot better,” Talbot said after lowering his ERA from 17.55 to 11.57. “I wasn’t finishing my pitches. When you can’t throw a pitch you want, you lose confidence.”

Asked which pitch was giving him trouble, the right-hander replied, “One through four. I was really struggling.”

The second-year starter had nothing going until pitching coach Tim Belcher told him to give it all he had after three so-so innings.

“I reached out and said, ‘There it is!”’ Talbot said. “I didn’t realize I wasn’t finishing until I did it on the first warmup pitch in the fourth.”

Talbot trailed 1-0 after two batters. Rickie Weeks tripled to right and scored on a sacrifice fly by Craig Counsell. He settled down to yield one run and six hits, striking out three without a walk.

“Once you find it, it’s a weight off your shoulders, like getting your first win,” Talbot said. “I was releasing the ball a bit too soon. Then, I was able to keep it down for strikes.”

Lewis, plagued by the long ball in the past, didn’t help his quest to claim a bullpen job.

“He needs to command his fastball and stay ahead in the count,” manager Manny Acta said. “He’s a two-pitch pitcher and his fastball is not overpowering. He has to locate it.”

Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke was concerned that Axford and starter Chris Narveson couldn’t command breaking balls.

“John just couldn’t put it where he wanted and he has to throw strikes,” Roenicke said. “Today, it was more of a sweeping break instead of that good downward movement.”

Carlos Santana, Chad Huffman and Matt LaPorta hit two-run homers for the Indians.

Indians OF Grady Sizemor ran the bases for the second time since microfracture surgery on his left knee in June and reported no setbacks. Acta said Sizemore may play for the first time Sunday.