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Marlins silence Tribe
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Cleveland Indians left fielder Johnny Damon flips upside down after slamming into the outfield wall on an RBI-double by the Miami Marlins’ Logan Morrison in the eighth inning of Sunday’s interleague baseball game in Cleveland. The Indians fell 5-3.
Cleveland fans have little to vent or cheer
Associated Press
CLEVELAND
All was quiet for most of the afternoon at Progressive Field on Sunday.
Cleveland closer Chris Perez, who blasted Indians fans twice in less than 24 hours for not showing more support for the team that leads the AL Central, wasn’t used in the 5-3 loss to the Miami Marlins.
Since the Indians don’t play today, Perez, unhappy that the Indians are last in the majors in average attendance, will have to wait until at least Tuesday night to know how fans will react to his strong words.
Perez first criticized the fans following Saturday’s 2-0 win in which he struck out the side in the ninth inning for his 13th save. He addressed the issue again before Sunday’s game, but didn’t back down from his words a day earlier, questioning why fans are not turning out and why some in the sparse crowds boo the home team.
Asked after the game about Perez’s opinions, Indians manager Manny Acta said, “Chris is a very emotional guy. He really cares.
“He wants to win badly a championship for the city of Cleveland. We all want people here, but that’s something we can’t control.
“I like our fan base. We have to understand the situation. It’s tough out there [economically] nowadays. We’ve had tough weather at the beginning of the season. Our fans will come.”
Indians starter Derek Lowe, who took the loss despite holding Miami to two runs in six innings, maintained he was unaware of Perez’s comments. He jokingly said, “Did he thank them? Did he say hi?”
Turning serious, Lowe said, “Who am I to sit here and say you should come or shouldn’t come? My job is to play the game and that’s it. It’s not our place, at least in my opinion, to tell people to come or not to come.”
Of more immediate concern to Acta is the state of Cleveland’s offense, which was quiet all weekend, scoring seven runs.
“Both teams pitched pretty well,” Acta said. “It was about pitching the whole series. It’s not like either one of us has the Texas Rangers lineup. It was a well-played series. Unfortunately, we ended up losing two out of three.”
Josh Johnson twice worked out of jams to earn his second straight win.
Johnson (2-3) allowed one run and five hits in seven innings. Heath Bell gave up an RBI double to Jose Lopez and a run-scoring groundout to Casey Kotchman in the ninth before nailing down his fifth save in nine chances.
Lowe (6-2) had his four-game winning streak snapped.
“I’ve seen Johnson pitch many good games,” Lowe said. “Today was no exception. He made quality pitches when he had to.”
Clinging to a 2-1 lead, Johnson twice got the Indians to hit key ground balls with two runners on.