Indians Confidential

Paul Byrd continues to be a bright spot in a season gone wrong for the Indians, as Saturday he threw a six-hitter vs the Blue Jays in the Indians 4-2 win at the Rogers Centre.  “I had a really good curveball today,” Byrd said. “I used it to left-handers a lot. I got a strikeout on it, a number of outs on it. I got some first-pitch strikes on my curveball, I thought that was key. It’s probably not in the scouting report for them over there.”  It was the 4th straight win for Byrd, who had at one point lost five straight from June 11th to July 4th.

He moves to 7-10 on the season, it was his first complete game since a 7-0 win last season vs the White Sox on September 1st.  He allowed two runs and six hits, walked none and struck out two. He threw 93 pitches, 67 for strikes.  He set down 12 straight batters and 21 of 22 overall when Lyle Overbay hit a two-out single in the ninth. Overbay was thrown out by left-fielder Ben Francisco to end the game as he tried to stretch the hit into a double.

The Indians offense did a nice job getting Byrd the win, as they scored three runs in the 6th inning to turn a 2-1 deficit to a 4-2 lead.  Jhonny Peralta led off with a single and Choo followed with a grounder to short that left runners at first and second after John McDonald threw high to Inglett as he tried for the force. Francisco bunted to advance the runners before Garko and Andy Marte hit run-scoring singles.  Asdrubal Cabrera walked and Garko was forced out at the plate on Grady Sizemore’s fielder’s choice before David Delluci drove in a run with a bases-loaded walk.

The Tribe has owned the Jays this year, as they are 5-1 against them, and have outscored them 30-8 in the six games.  Sunday they look for the sweep as 15-2 Cliff Lee goes for the Indians vs Scott Richmond (0-1, 4.91) for the Jays, making his 3rd career start.