Gomez strong again in victory over Dodgers

By Sheldon Ocker

Akron Beacon Journal

GOODYEAR, Ariz.

Jeanmar Gomez made his fourth start of the spring on Monday, and he still hasn’t given up a run.

In four innings, he gave up one hit and one walk and struck out three as the Indians beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 at Goodyear Ballpark.

Gomez is one of four starters competing for the final spot in the rotation, but the reality is that he has pitched himself into a mano-a-mano battle with Kevin Slowey to be the Tribe’s fifth starter. David Huff and Zach McAllister also are contenders for the job, but it has probably become a two-man race.

“I like the way we pitched today,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “Gomez set the tone. Against a guy like Clayton Kershaw, that’s what you have to do.”

Acta is not ready to eliminate anyone from the competition, nor is he prepared to elevate Gomez. Then again, Gomez’s glowing statistics speak for themselves.

In 11 spring innings, he has allowed four hits and three walks, striking out seven. Slowey hasn’t pitched nearly as well, but he has a record of success with the Minnesota Twins.

“Gomez probably is throwing the best of anybody in camp,” Acta said. “He’s not hurting his chances.”

Acta threw in a warning to the competitors for the two spots in the bullpen.

“At the end of the day, if we feel one of these guys [starters] can be more useful in the bullpen, we’ll go that way,” he said.

Gomez has come a long way the past two years.

“His secondary pitches were not as sharp,” Acta said.

Carlos Santana hit his second home run of the spring in the sixth inning, but Jose Lopez, who has hit his way into contention for a utility infield spot, made his third error of exhibition season.

Indians center fielder Michael Brantley left after one inning with what Acta said was a “tight right hamstring.”

Joe Smith, Vinnie Pestano and Dan Wheeler each threw one scoreless inning, but Wheeler gave up two hits and struck out two. Chris Ray allowed one run and one hit in one inning, and Chris Seddon gave up two runs on four hits in the ninth.

Kershaw, the NL Cy Young Award winner, pitched into the sixth inning and dropped down two nice sacrifice bunts for Los Angeles.

Kershaw allowed one run — his first this spring — and three singles over 51/3 innings.

He walked two and struck out four. The left-hander got eight outs on grounders and has a 0.73 ERA in 121/3 innings over three starts this spring.

“For the first two or three innings, I was pretty erratic, missing with too many fastballs,” Kershaw said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.