A day of dominance for some AL Central teams with two impressive wins, as the Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox on a 12th inning 3-run walk off homer by Asdrubal Cabrera, while the Chicago White Sox kept the Los Angeles Dodgers wondering about what’s going wrong, as a strong pitching performance from Josh Danks and the bullpen allowed only two hits in a 2-1 victory.
The Red Sox were going in red hot to their series against the Indians but lost all three games, as Cleveland roll with their sixth straight win and ninth in a row when playing at home. In a game that went on for nearly four and a half hours, it ended with Cabrera hitting one off of Edward Mujica, who continues to struggle whenever he goes in for a crucial appearance. He got one batter out, but Cabrera hit his home run with two already on to claim the 7-4 victory, with Mujica’s ERA rising to a whopping 7.29.
The Red Sox had a bad day of hitting, only 7-for-42, but found themselves in the lead (2-1) in the sixth inning thanks to a two-run homer from David Ortiz, his 13th of the season. They fell behind by two runs but a single from Brock Holt yielded two RBIs, eventually leading to a 12th inning that the Indians walked away from with victory in hand, coming in front of a half-full stadium due to the rain delaying the start of the ball game.
Regardless of the time, anytime you go 12 innings, losses sting a little bit. We were doing everything we could to extend the ballgame. Guys came out of the bullpen and did a good job. Cabrera just got hold of a breaking ball and put an end to this one. That pitch was a big mistake, and he hit it out. I left it over the plate. It was a little crazy, but we had to keep it going however we could.
The Dodgers began their series against the White Sox with a win but leave with a bad taste in their mouth, losing two in a row, and as their ultra expensive hitting crew getting only two hits, both from the same player (Dee Gordon) against the White Sox, getting a fantastic pitching performance from Josh Danks (7.1 innings, 5 strikeouts, two hits, three walks, one run) and the bullpen, as Ronald Belisario picked up his fifth save of the season.
Josh Beckett continues to be quite inconsistent, allowing nine hits in six innings and resulting in the two runs for the White Sox – A home run from Leury Garcia, his first of the season, and another from Adam Dunn, taking a 2-0 lead in the 4th inning. The Dodgers got on the scoreboard in the 8th inning after Hanley Ramirez grounded into fielder’s choice which allowed Gordon to score, but there was nothing really good about anything the Dodgers did.
Don Mattingly, the manager, keeps talking about team chemistry being a big issue in why the team with the biggest payroll in baseball is only 31-30, eight games behind the San Francisco Giants who lead the NL West. The White Sox find themselves with the same record in the much tighter AL Central, also good enough for second in the division, but only three games behind the Detroit Tigers.
I’m not sure what’s considered throwing your players under the bus, but I’m pretty sure what Mattingly said after the game falls somewhere in that category, showing more than just slight frustration with the situation: I really think you should talk to the players. I’m tired of answering questions, honestly. We’re just not that good. We’re just not getting it done.