For whatever reason, the Indians’ offense just doesn’t seem to show up very often when Justin Masterson takes the mound.
He entered Monday’s start against the Twins receiving an average of 3.48 runs of support per nine innings pitched — the American League’s lowest figure and the sixth-lowest in the Majors.
Monday night was no different.
Masterson wasn’t lights-out, but he certainly performed better than Cleveland’s offense. Lonnie Chisenhall homered in his first game since being injured on June 29, but it was one of just three hits for the Indians, who lost, 7-2, to the Twins at Target Field.
The defeat dropped Cleveland to 23 games below .500, their worst mark of the season. Monday’s loss marked the Indians’ third straight to the Twins after winning the series opener Friday.
“It’s disappointing to win the first game in the series and not be able to even get a split after that,” manager Manny Acta said. “We didn’t pitch or hit well enough over the last three games to win any ballgames.”
Masterson’s loss was his 13th, tying his single-season career high established in 2010. He allowed six earned runs on seven hits and two walks in 6 2/3 innings, but generally controlled the Twins’ lineup until Minnesota broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth.
“I thought that Masterson had good stuff,” Acta said. “Gave us six innings to score runs, to do something. But we weren’t able to do it.”
Ben Revere took advantage of Cleveland’s infield shift in the bottom of the sixth and rifled a single through the middle and just out of the reach of Brent Lillibridge, scoring Pedro Florimon to give the Twins a 2-1 advantage. Florimon led off the inning with a triple. Masterson induced two groundouts before allowing Justin Morneau to loop a weak single into left field, bringing Revere home and extending Minnesota’s lead to 3-1.
Masterson had allowed just one run on two hits through the first five innings and retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced.
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