Indians 7 - White Sox 2: Fausto Carmona, Grady Sizemore Lead Tribe to Victory

Fausto Carmona has one of the hardest sinkers in the league, and it showed Thursday evening as he pitched a four hitter through seven innings; all of them singles, and recorded sixteen outs on grounders translating into a Cleveland victory against the Chicago White Sox, 7-2.

The Tribe improve to 2-0 on the season while the While Sox drop to 0-2.

While Sabathia was the opening game pitcher, Carmona looked a lot better in his debut. He gets the win and sports an early ERA of 1.29.

Grady Sizemore went three for four, scored two runs, and recorded three RBI’s in the victory. Asdrubal Cabrera went three for five with two RBI’s. The offense accounted for ten hits, three for extra bases, and no home runs.

On the White Sox side, A.J. Pierzynski was the lone man wrecking crew, tallying both White Sox runs, and collecting three of the eight Chicago hits.

The Sox didn’t get to Carmona until the 5th inning, scoring their first and only run against him. A.J Pierzynski singled, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a single from Joe Crede. Pierzynski added a home run in the top of the ninth off Julio to round out the While Sox scoring for the evening.

The theme of the night for the Tribe on defense was double plays. They got out of the first, second, and turned two in the fourth, every double play erasing a prior Carmona walk.

On the offensive side, the Indians turned the walks into runs. The tribe struck for two in the second. Franklin Gutierrez was hit by a pitch, David Delucci walked, then Kelly Shoppach got a free pass after a pop-up by Casey Blake went as the first out. This loaded the bases for Sizemore, and he delivered a single, scoring two of the free-pass gentlemen.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Tribe added another pair.  Sizemore opened the inning with a triple, Cabrera singled him home. Jhonny Peralta reached first on a fielder’s choice that erased Cabrera for the first out. Travis Hafner singled Peralta to third, Ryan Garko walked to load the bases, and then Gutierrez showed remarkable patience, taking the free-pass as Peralta walked home. Delucci grounded out to end the inning.

The bottom of the sixth brought in another pair for the Tribe as Blake, another recipient of the walk, went to third on a Shoppach double. Sizemore singled in Blake. Cabrera then singled Shoppach home, but was out at second by a mile trying to stretch the single into a double. Peralta popped out, Hafner was intentionally walked, and the White Sox escaped the inning on a Garko flyout.

The last Tribe run was scored by a very busy Sizemore. After being hit by a pitch to lead off the eighth inning, he was driven in on a Garko single to short with two outs.

The Indians used four pitchers in the victory.

Masa Kobayashi made his major league debut and looked shaky, giving up two singles and striking out one before being pulled for lefty, Rafael Perez to pitch against Jim Thome. Perez struck him out, walked Konerko, and squelched any chance of a bases-loaded comeback by striking out Jermaine Dye.  Jorge Julio pitched the ninth, putting on two before ending the game.

The Indians wrap up their series against the Sox today at 12:05 hoping for a sweep of their central division counterparts.