Indians Confidential

On a night that at first looked as if it would be a hitters parade, Monday night’s Memorial Day affair between the Indians and White Sox turned into a pitchers duel, and in the end the Indians were fell by an old pitcher making his return to the team in Scott Elarton in a 6-3 loss in 12 innings.  Elarton came in and right off the bat allowed three hits that plated a run, then a ground out scored another run.  A Brian Anderson double was the nail in the coffin to make it 6-3.

The loss by the Indians drops them to 23-28 on the season, 5.5 back of the Sox in the division.  They are fading fast, as they have now dropped 9 of their last 10 and are a lackluster .500 at home at 15-15.

Paul Byrd started for the Indians, and he got out of the jam of jams in the first, loading the bases with no outs, but only allowing a run on a Jim Thome ground out. The Tribe came back right away against one of the better pitchers in the AL in Javier Vazquez, as David Dellucci tied the game with a solo homer in the bottom of the first to make it 1-1.  A Victor Martinez single in the third with two on and no outs made it 2-1.  The inning was derailed though as a fielder’s choice, strikeout and ground out ended the frame.

A Jhonny Peralta solo homer in the 5th off of Vazquez gave the Indians a two-run lead at 3-1.  It was the 10th homer of the season for Peralta, a team high.  Byrd was good till the 6th, when Thome struck Byrd again, this time with his 10th homer of the year to make it 3-2.  He allowed the tying run in the 7th that eventually scored to make it 3-3.  Overall, he went 6.2 innings, allowing three runs on 10 hits with a no decision.

Tuesday night at 7:05pm the series continues with Aaron Laffey (2-3, 1.60) going for the Indians vs Mark Buehrle (2-5, 4.82).