Less than 24 hours removed from allowing his 1st home run of the season, an eventual game-winning blast off the bat of Seth Smith, Chris Perez found himself on the mound at another critical juncture on Wednesday evening.
Once again, Smith was at the dish, but, this time, the Colorado slugger hit a drive off the wall and not over it. What could have been a game-tying homer simply became a 2-out double.
That was the only break Perez needed.
The next hitter, Ty Wigginton, flied out meekly to center field, and the Indians avoided the sweep.
Josh Tomlin pitched 6 1/3 solid innings to give his club a chance to win. Tomlin improved his record to 9-4 as he yielded 3 runs.
The only Rockie that Tomlin could not stop was Wigginton. Wigginton hit a wall-scraping solo jack in the 5th and a 2-run bomb in the 7th.
Wigginton's 2nd tater sent Tomlin to the showers, but that proved to be bad news for the visitors. Vinnie Pestano breezed through a scoreless frame, Tony Sipp retired the 2 batters he faced, and Perez did the job in the 9th.
The Indians gave Tomlin some early breathing room as they tallied twice in the 3rd. Travis Buck's lead-off double and Jack Hannahan's ensuing walk presented the Tribe with a viable scoring opportunity. Grady Sizemore's single through the hole on the right side of the infield plated Buck and advanced Hannahan to 2nd. However, Colorado starter Jason Hammel almost worked out of the mess, but he committed a costly, and stunning, mistake. There were 2 outs when Hammel started into his delivery before suddenly stopping. That odd occurence was correctly ruled a balk, enabling Hannahan to cross home plate.
The night's biggest hit came courtesy of Travis Hafner. In the 5th, following an Asdrubal Cabrera double, Pronk hit a laser inside the right field foul pole. The Rockies were never able to overcome Pronk's 7th jack of the campaign.
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| Tomlin's quality start helped the Tribe end a brief, 2-game slide |
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