Indians Confidential

The Indians starting pitching and staff as a whole continues to be the saviour of the team, as Tuesday night at Progressive Field Paul Byrd came through with 7.1 innings of shutout ball as the team topped the A’s 4-0 to move to 20-19.  Byrd continued a trend as Indians starters continue to dominate.  The starters have now allowed just one run in their last 39 innings.  A staggering stat to say the least.  Byrd moves to 2-3 with the win, allowing five hits, no walks, and striking out seven.

The offense continues to be in a shell, putting up just seven hits, but they did get some runs when they needed them, as Travis Hafner came though with a big two-out single to center to make it 1-0 in the first inning, and then with two outs in the 8th, Ryan Garko hit a three-run homer to add a little breathing room to make it 4-0.  Hafner and Asdrubal Cabrera each had two hits, while Grady Sizemore, Victor Martinez and Garko each had one.

The Indians pen also did a nice job to pick up Byrd, as Rafael Perez took over in the 8th and got one out, and Masa Kobayashi pitched an inning to close the door and earn the save.  The team is now 4-1 in this seven-game homestand, and overall have won 7 of their last 10 to start to put pressure on the Twins at the top of the AL Central.

Wednesday C.C. Sabathia (2-5, 6.55) who has struggled vs the A’s this season with two losses, takes on Joe Blanton (2-5, 3.82) at 7:05pm.