Having used his primary relief pitchers to secure a victory in the opener of a twinbill against the White Sox, Manny Acta was forced to utilize his less dependable bullpen arms, including 3 rookies, in an attempt to earn a sweep.
Zach McAllister, making his 3rd major league start, pitched into the 6th inning before issuing walks to Alexei Ramirez and Adam Dunn.
With 1 out and the Indians enjoying a 4-1 advantage, Acta summoned Rafael Perez. Perez promptly surrendered Alejandro De Aza's 2-run double. In fairness to Perez, the hit was a blooper, and Shelley Duncan, the left fielder, should have held De Aza to a single while preventing a 2nd run from scoring.
Despite Duncan's shaky defense, the Indians carried a 4-3 lead into the 7th. At this point, Acta turned to Zach Putnam, a 1st-year player enduring a miserable start to his MLB career. And Putnam did nothing to reverse his fortunes as he allowed the Sox to plate 2 quick runs.
Even though 2 other rookies, Nick Hagadone and Josh Judy, combined to toss 2 2/3 frames of shutout baseball, Chicago had done enough damage to eke out a victory.
In a losing effort, Jason Donald collected 4 hits, all of which were singles.
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| McAllister pitched well, but the bullpen wasted his solid effort |
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