In front of a sold-out and raucous Rogers Centre crowd, Cleveland claimed a season-opening 4-1 victory over Toronto on Tuesday night. Sinkerballer Justin Masterson fought his way through six innings and shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera clubbed a critical home run, giving the Indians enough to survive against the unpredictable and often-dominating ways of Blue Jays knuckleballer R.A. Dickey.
As he watched it all unfold from the visitors’ dugout, new manager Terry Francona — a man with two World Series rings and a life spent in and around the game — found himself overwhelmed by nerves.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Francona said. “I was so nervous the whole game — it surprised me. I think I kind of came to realize early in the game how much I care about these guys already. It hit me like a ton of bricks.”
The hiring of Francona in October initiated the Indians’ offseason facelift.
Ownership freed up the funds to land big-ticket free agents such as Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn and general manager Chris Antonetti made a wave of trades — big and small — to address multiple needs on the roster and in the farm system. The result was an Opening Day roster featuring a dozen newcomers and an energized cast of players determined to swiftly move on from last year’s 94-loss showing.
Winning on Day 1 was a great way to start.
“It’s great to get one for Tito,” said closer Chris Perez, referring to Francona, “but it’s great getting one for our team, too, and the city. There’s a lot better feeling after Opening Day this time than last year. He’s going to get a lot more wins here, but it’s good to get the first one out of the way.”
Perez had been thinking a lot lately about Opening Day a year ago, and he thought about it some more when he was summoned from the bullpen in the ninth inning.
A year ago, following a strong outing by Masterson, Perez entered with a 4-1 lead against the Blue Jays and suffered a blown save that led to a 16-inning loss. The All-Star stopper emerged from the bullpen behind the right-field wall on Tuesday night with Cleveland clinging to a 4-1 lead.
The baseball gods have a cruel sense of humor.
“C.P. had the same stuff he had last year,” Masterson said with a smirk, “and he came in and was able to slice and dice this year. It was nice.”
Perez followed a flawless eighth inning by setup man Vinnie Pestano, who followed a one-two-three seventh turned in by sidearmer Joe Smith. That late-inning trio has been one of Cleveland’s consistent strengths over the past two seasons.
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