The Indians knew a 10-day road trip to 3 different National League cities would be a grind, but they never expected to make it so difficult on themselves.
Following Friday night's meltdown lowlighted by Carlos Santana's 2 6th inning errors that led to 3 unearned runs and, ultimately, a Giants victory, the Indians experienced a sickening case of deja vu on Saturday afternoon.
Justin Masterson and Matt Cain were locked in a classic pitchers' duel as the game entered the the bottom of the 7th. Leading off for San Francisco, Nate Schierholtz laced a liner to the left-center field gap, but he stumbled, fell flat on his face, and was thrown out attempting to scamper to 3rd base. Bolstered by Schierholtz's gaffe, Masterson induced a weak bouncer off the bat of Miguel Tejada. However, Cord Phelps, the 2nd baseman, made a wide throw to 1st, enabling Tejada to reach safely. The next batter, Chris Stewart, popped out, and Masterson was on the verge of rendering Phelps' miscue a meaningless footnote. But Phelps did the unthinkable: he committed another error. Cain chopped a routine grounder off the glove of Phelps, and the Giants suddenly had a legitimate threat. Sensing that, Manny Acta summoned Tony Sipp from the bullpen. The usually reliable Sipp issued a walk to load the bases, and then he balked home the go-ahead run. The defending world champs were on the scoreboard despite not collecting a base-knock.
Cleveland had a golden opportunity in the 8th, but it was wasted. After Travis Hafner and Michael Brantley hit back-to-back singles, Phelps dropped down a perfect sacrifice bunt. The Giants' slim lead was looking even slimmer, but Adam Everett, pinch-running for Hafner, was thrown out at the plate on Asdrubal Cabrera's tapper to 3rd. Carlos Santana was intentionally walked, and Grady Sizemore's groundout ended the frame.
Brian Wilson and his thick, black beard slammed the door on the Indians' last gasp in the 9th.
Justin Masterson, who has been unable to notch a W since April 26th, was once again a tough-luck loser. Masterson yielded only the 1 unearned run in his 6 2/3 innings of work.
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| The Tribe failed to overcome Sipp's stunning balk |
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