There are certain hitters who just have a pitcher’s number. When Don Kelly settled into the batter’s box to face Indians sinkerballer Justin Masterson on Sunday afternoon, it was best to ignore the paltry batting average that appeared on the scoreboard.
Masterson surrendered a three-run home run to Kelly in the sixth inning, sending the Indians on their way to a 4-1 loss to the Tigers at Comerica Park. Detroit rookie left-hander Jose Alvarez quieted Cleveland’s bats for six innings in his Major League debut, making Masterson’s few mistakes more glaring in the Tribe’s seventh consecutive defeat.
Then again, Kelly looked like he used a sand wedge to make contact with Masterson’s pitch.
“I don’t even think it was a mistake,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “He actually threw a ball down and in that was a ball. It got into his swing path and it got out of the ballpark. That ended up being the difference.”
That is the way things have been going these days for the Tribe.
The Indians were dealt a three-game sweep at the hands of the American League Central-leading Tigers and have yet to win a game in six tries on this three-city, nine-game swing through New York, Detroit and Texas. Dating back to May 21, the Indians have dropped 15 of their past 19 games. Over that span, second-place Cleveland has gone from a 2 1/2-game lead atop the division to a 4 1/2-game deficit behind the Tigers.
The Indians (30-32) have now lost 11 straight road games in the same season for the first time since 1991, and are two games below the break-even mark for the first time since April 30.
“We’re just not catching a whole lot of breaks,” Masterson said. “That’s going to happen within this game, within this season. For us, we’re excited about the talent and ability we have here to be able to overcome this.”
Detroit isn’t preparing Woodward Ave. for a victory parade just yet, though.
“I still don’t call it a big series. It wasn’t a big series before,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “We played well and we probably caught them at the right time. [Asdrubal] Cabrera their shortstop’s out. They struggled a little bit after a couple of really tough games in Boston. But they’ll be back. They’ve got a good team, and they’ve got a terrific offense.
“It doesn’t mean anything at all. It’s early June. Some of the kids aren’t even out of school yet.”
Alvarez — promoted from Triple-A Toledo before the game — spun six strong innings for the Tigers (35-26), who have won each of the past five meetings with the Tribe. The left-hander limited Cleveland to one run, which came via a two-out home run off the bat of Ryan Raburn in the fifth inning. Alvarez scattered three hits and finished with seven strikeouts and one walk in the victory.
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