Injury News: The Indians have not stated who will be the number five starter the first time through the rotation yet, but they have said that it won't be Scott Kazmir. He is too injured to pitch Saturday, but not badly enough to be placed on the DL as of yet. Travis Bauer is a prime candidate as Carlos Carrasco is unavailable until Monday.
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Or as always on the right side bar of BurningRiverBaseball.com. Now onto the game.
Player of the Game
Ubaldo Jimenez nets the Player of the Game with a final POG score of 5.00 despite not recording the win. He pitched 6 solid innings, allowing just a single run on a solo home run while striking out six. Michael Brantley also had a great game with four hits, racking up a POG score of 3.55.
Feathers Up
Both starters had their "good stuff" at the start of this game. The Indians first four hits off Brandon Morrow were all of the seeing eye variety and Ubaldo Jimenez was very proficient at keeping the ball on the ground. Morrow was especially good at striking out batters, ending the game with 8 while Jimenez's only mistake came against light hitting Maicer Izturis who hit a solo home run to left in the third inning. Despite just allowing a single run each, neither pitcher was eligible to win the game as they each left early while the game was tied.
Michael Brantley has been hot through the first two games as he knocked in his first run of the year today on his third single. He had a great Spring, especially early on and will benefit playing in the middle of a much improved lineup. He later added two more singles and was the only batter to hit the ball hard safely in the first five innings against Morrow. He is now 5-6 on the season with two walks.
Michael Bourne showed his speed for the first time, legging out a double on a bloop hit to left before taking third on a line drive out to shallow right. He later scored on the Brantley single. Drew Stubbs also turned it on for the first time, stealing the first base (of many to come) by an Indian this year.
Mark Reynolds first hit as an Indian was an upper deck shot to give the Indians the lead in the 11th inning. The pitch was high and he let it fly to straightaway centerfield.
Feathers Down
Jason Kipnis has been kept off base each of the first two games, but he has hit the ball hard. Today he hit a long fly to the opposite field, but was retired at the wall by Melky Cabrera.
Much like Masterson yesterday, Ubaldo Jimenez seemed to struggle at times throwing strikes. He was able to refrain from walking to many batters and it actually helped him set-up a few of his six strike outs. Pitching like this places Jimenez on an edge, just like last year, where he is dangerously close to walking 5 batters a game. Another aspect of this wildness, the increase in pitch count, is made unimportant by the strength of the Indians bullpen.
Chris Perez didn't wait long to blow his first save of the season as he came out of the pen hot and completely out of control. He struck out the first batter, but threw a terrible fast ball to Jose Bautista which was deposited in the bullpen past the left field wall. In a one run game, that was all that was needed to force extra innings.
Play of the Game
Jimenez induced a double play to end his sixth and final inning of the game. After Melky Cabrera had reached via single, Jose Batista hit a ground ball to Jason Kipnis who tossed the ball to Asdrubal Cabrera. It was the second double play forced against Batista by Jimenez.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 3 – Toronto Blue Jays 2
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