Saturday, June 16, 2012
Indians, Masterson shut out Pittsburgh
Associated Press
CLEVELAND
The Indians can’t score for Justin Masterson, who gets less run support than any other starter in the AL.
He’s found a way to deal with it.
“I’ve got to make sure no one scores,” he said. “That’s your job as the pitcher.”
Masterson pitched seven effective innings, working out of jams three times, and Cleveland snapped a three-game losing streak with a 2-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night.
Masterson (3-6) allowed four hits, struck out nine and ended his own three-game slide. He wriggled out of threats in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings, and got a huge defensive play from second baseman Jason Kipnis in the sixth.
Vinnie Pestano worked the eighth and Chris Perez pitched the ninth for his major league-leading 21st save as the Indians bounced back after being swept in a series at Cincinnati. Perez, who always seems to make it interesting, gave up a leadoff single before getting a fly ball and game-ending double play.
Carlos Santana hit an RBI double in the third off James McDonald (5-3) and Michael Brantley extended baseball’s longest hitting streak this season to 22 games with a run-scoring single in the eighth.
“What streak?” Brantley said, afraid to jinx himself.
The Pirates have lost four straight and were shut out for the sixth time this season.
Masterson hadn’t won since May 24, when he beat reigning AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander 2-1. Masterson had dropped his previous three outings despite pitching well in two of them. He lost 2-0 in St. Louis in his last start, when he gave up one run in seven innings.
The right-hander had the Pirates flailing at a wicked slider that slid across the plate and out of the strike zone. During one stretch from the second through fourth innings, he recorded seven consecutive outs with strikeouts.
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said his young hitters tried to do too much against Masterson, expanding the strike zone when they had him on the ropes.
“Who’s in trouble there?” he said. “We need to have a better understanding and awareness when we’re in the [batter’s] box. We worked outside our comfort zone. It is like, ‘I’ve got a chance to be a hero here.’ It has to be that you can be the guy if you get a good pitch and then hit it.”
Masterson got into trouble in the fourth when the Pirates loaded the bases on a pair of walks and a single. But he struck out Jose Tabata on one of those filthy sliders to end the threat.
In the sixth, he gave up a leadoff ground-rule double to Neil Walker, who advanced to third on Andrew McCutchen’s groundout. Garrett Jones hit a soft fly to shallow right that Kipnis ran down with an over-the-shoulder catch.