Texas 12, Cleveland 7: Five Home Runs, Poor Pitching Lead to Indians Loss

Tom Mastny made his first major league start on Tuesday.  Wednesday, he’ll be sent to the minors. 

Not the storybook start he was looking for.

Mastny lasted only an inning and a third.  His stat line?  Three walks, two strikeouts, six hits allowed, five earned runs crossing the plate, and two home runs.  Ouch.  Oh wait—he also got the loss as the Indians went down 12-7 to the Texas Rangers. 

You have to feel bad for him, but only for a minute.  After all, he does play baseball for a living.

If, while watching the game, you thought to yourself, how tall is Mastny anyhow?  He’s 6’6” and that only gets him third tallest on the pitching staff.  Scott Elarton is 6’8".  C.C. Sabathia is 6’7”.

The bottom of the first set the tone of the evening. 

Ian Kinsler led off with a single.  After a Michael Young fly-out, Josh Hamilton hit a home run, staking the Rangers to a 2-0 lead.  Milton Bradley followed with a homer of his own, but it didn’t stop there.  David Murphy doubled to center.  Brandon Boggs singled to left, scoring Murphy.  Strikeout, walk, strikeout ended the four-run first. 

The second inning would not prove out any better for Mastny. 

Kinsler singled and stole second.  Young struck out.  Hamilton, who can do no wrong when he has a bat in his hand, was intentionally walked to set up a double play.  Why?  Anyone’s guess since I couldn’t recall a grounder from Texas yet.  Bradley then walked, loading the bases. 

That was it for Mastny.  56 pitches, and his debut was over.

Jensen Lewis, just called back to the Indians, immediately gave up a single to Murphy, the fifth run charged to Mastny, but got out of the inning on a strikeout and a fly-out.

The Indians got on the board in the top of the third. 

Andy Marte singled to left to open the frame. Grady Sizemore walked, Jamey Carroll walked, and just like that, the bases were loaded.  Ben Francisco singled home Marte.  Ryan Garko popped out, and righty Frank Francisco relieved for Texas and got them out of the inning with a double strikeout of Jhonny Peralta and Casey Blake, respectively.

The Rangers took the run right back, making it 6-1 on a home run from Jarrod Saltalamacchia.  It just took me four minutes to spell that and it's probably still wrong. (Ed. note: Yep.)

The Indians scored one in the fourth after Franklin Gutierrez led off the inning with a double, reached third on a Marte flyout, and came home after Sizemore was safe at first on a Texas error.

Jensen Lewis left after three innings of work, giving up two runs.  Those numbers don’t sound good, but after watching Mastny, it seemed like Lewis was masterful.

Edward Mujica pitched the next two and two thirds for the tribe, giving up two runs on his watch. 

The Indians scored three in the seventh and one in the eighth, making the score 9-6 and giving the average fan a ray of hope. 

The Rangers scored three of their own in the bottom of the eighth, squelching any hope of a comeback.  Milton Bradley had his second home run of the night. 

All told, the Rangers spanked five balls over the fence.

The Indians added a home run of their own in the ninth, as Shin-Soo Choo hit his first of the season.

The positives for the Indians: 15 hits.  Choo is batting .429 since being reactivated.  Grady Sizemore has been hitting well as of late, as are Peralta and Garko.  Maybe there’s light at the end of the tunnel? 

Cliff Lee will see what he can do to shut down the Texas lineup on Wednesday against Sidney Ponson.  With a combined 62 hits in two days between the two teams, both have their work cut out for them.