Indians center fielder Drew Stubbs sprinted in and left his feet, doing all he could to try to snare the fly ball off Brian Dozier’s bat in the seventh inning. Stubbs slammed to the ground and the baseball dropped to the grass just in front of his glove.
“It was just a matter of inches,” Stubbs said.
That ended Tribe sinkerballer Justin Masterson’s flirtation with history on Saturday afternoon.
Masterson carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, but instead settled for an overpowering performance that guided Cleveland to a 7-1 victory. That snapped a two-game funk for the Indians, who left Target Field smiling as they head west for a three-game series with the Mariners.
It was a welcomed response for an Indians club that had poor defense and a quiet offense spoil strong pitching in each of the past two games in the Twin Cities. In the finale of the series with Minnesota, Masterson kept his fielders on their toes with his bat-shattering sinker and the lineup had contributions up and down the order.
“That’s what we can do,” Masterson said. “You’ve seen the last couple games. We were just a little bit sloppy kind of all the way around. I think today is a nice one — a little kick in the pants. Let’s get it back together and really push.”
Masterson led the charge.
Following a 10-day break, which included a seat in the American League’s duguout for his first All-Star Game, Masterson was dominant for the Indians (52-46) in his opening act of the second half. The right-hander logged seven innings and only surrendered one hit, keeping Cleveland’s 32-season no-hitter drought alive.
Len Barker remains the last Indians pitcher to complete a no-hitter, doing so with his perfect game against the Blue Jays on May 15, 1981.
“You’ve got to be good,” Indians manager Terry Francona said, “and you’ve got to be a little lucky.”
Masterson improved to 11-7 with a 3.60 ERA in 21 starts, during which he has 145 strikeouts against 54 walks across 142 1/3 innings. This marked only the second time in Masterson’s career — the other was June 20 last year against the Reds — that the pitcher finished a start with at least seven innings, eight strikeouts and no walks.
For Francona, who first managed Masterson in their days with the Red Sox, it has been fun to watch the right-hander develop into the leader of a rotation and an All-Star.
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