Fireworks indeed. Twelve hits, three home runs, every starter save Lou-Lou Marson with a knock; the Tribe should play Cincy every day. Justin Masterson finally snagged his sixth win of the season, evening his record with six losses. That sort of equality is fitting as the bats gave him eight runs of support last night, the same total that they had put up in his past 11 starts combined. We should all be grateful that Bat is such a mellow fellow; one more prone to implosion (Hi Fausto!) would have done just that over the past two months. Instead, Masterson (2.85) has just gone out every fifth day and continued to do his job. Tonight was no exception, as Justin threw eight innings allowing just four hits with a Brandon Phillips solo shot accounting for the only black mark on his scorecard. As always, control was paramount to his success, as he walked just one (4 K) and threw 65 of 102 pitches for strikes. With the rotation sorely wanting for a leader, one might just have emerged.
On the other side of the coin, Chad Durbin's stuggles continue. Pitching for the first time since June 20th, the man who was supposed to lead by example at the back end of the bullpen surrendered Phillips second solo home run of the night in the 9th. Durbin's ERA since May 25 is now 9.95 and that actually came down as he recorded the three outs without further incident. Chad (2-1, 6.75) has pitched just three times in the past three weeks and Manny Acta now seems only to use him when he has no other choice. Let me be clear, I do not wish failure on the man, I simply do not see any success forthcoming.
For those of you that might be worried about Travis Buck, who left the game with hamstring tightness after expanding the lead to 8-1, the injury has been deemed minor and he is considered day-to-day. Incidentally, Buck (.252) has five hits in his last 6 at bats and is batting .381 over his past 7 games.
National game on Fox today, 4:05p. Roll Tribe.
Cheers.
