
The Indians found a new way to lose on Friday night at Progressive Field, as they were able to put up 9 runs, the problem was they allowed 13 in losing their 7th straight, falling to the Texas Rangers 13-9. The night started bad (four runs in the first), and never really got better in the 4 hour 9 minute affair, the second longest game in the ballparks history.
Fausto Carmona was battered early before leaving the game with a hip strain. He allowed the Rangers the four runs in the first inning before many of the 39,947 were even sitting down. The Indians offense actually showed signs of life, getting two runs back in the bottom of the first on RBI from Ben Francisco and Travis Hafner to make it 4-2.
It looked as if the Indians were going to get back in the game for good in the 2nd, as they again got a run, this time off a Hafner sac fly to deep center to make it 4-3. That’s when the bottom dropped out. In the third, the Rangers sent 11 batters to the plate, the highlight of the inning coming when light hitting catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia took a Jorge Julio pitch 380 feet with the bases loaded for his first career grand slam to make it 9-3.
Carmona had left the game two batter before Saltalamacchia with what was told to us was a hip strain. He is day-to-day. The line on Carmona was awful - two innings, five hits, six runs, three walks and one K. He suffered the loss to put him at 4-2 on the season. Even worse though was Julio, who at this point simply has to be the next to go off this roster.
The journeyman reliever came in and allowed six Rangers to either get hits or walks before finally retiring a batter. He lasted 1.2 innings, allowing five runs on six hits, three walks, one K and the grand slam. The night for him was mercifully over, but not before he cemented the fact that he should be the next to be shown the door.
Down 11-3 the Indians made it somewhat interesting, scoring three in the bottom of the third when Grady Sizemore homered to make it 11-6. No more runs were scored till the teams traded runs in the 6th to make it 12-7, and then in the bottom of the 7th Jamey Carroll doubled in two more to make it 12-9. The Rangers made sure they wouldn’t lose this one, as they scored a run in the 8th off of Rafael Perez to end the scoring at 13-9.
The now 7-game losing streak is the longest the Indians have had since they lost 9 in August of 2004. The team will once again try to rebound on Saturday as Cliff Lee will go for the Indians vs Scott Feldman at 7:05pm.