NewsChoo homers twice as Tribe routs A's
Right fielder drives in seven to back rookie Huff
By Skip Snow / Special to MLB.com
07/04/09 12:04 AM ET
CLEVELAND -- On a night when the 2009 season reached the midpoint, the Indians broke a five-game losing streak and perhaps turned their back on what they hope was the low-water mark of the season.On Friday, in the opener of a three-game holiday-weekend series at Progressive Field, the Indians started the fireworks early and banged their way out of that skid, topping the Athletics, 15-3. Right fielder Shin-Soo Choo led the way for the Tribe, going 4-for-5 with a pair of home runs and an Indians season-high seven RBIs.
With the series against Oakland, Cleveland is looking in the mirror -- both teams come into the weekend mired in last place in their division. The Indians have had poor pitching and serviceable hitting, while the A's have had decent pitching but lackluster hitting. And both teams came into Friday night's game struggling as of late. The Tribe had lost five straight and 15 of its last 20; the Athletics were 7-14 over their last 21.
On Friday, however, in the 81st game of the season, the Indians were the team that broke through and put together some extra-base power (five doubles and three home runs), clutch hitting (6-for-13 with runners in scoring position) and a solid performance from a starting pitcher (rookie lefty David Huff).
The A's scored solo runs in each of the first two frames to take an early 2-0 lead. The Indians countered in the home half of the second when designated hitter Travis Hafner deposited a Trevor Cahill fastball into the third row in right-center on a 404-foot home run.
The Tribe followed that up by hanging crooked numbers on the Progressive Field scoreboard in three consecutive innings. First came a trio of unearned runs in the third, on a hit, two walks and a pair of throwing errors by A's third baseman Bobby Crosby. Then came four more runs in the fourth, chasing Cahill. In the fourth, the Tribe batted around and got key hits from Asdrubal Cabrera, Choo and Jhonny Peralta. In the fifth, Cleveland sent eight more men to the plate. Five scored, courtesy of a two-run double by Cabrera and a three-run homer by Choo.
At the end of that rampage, Tribe starter David Huff was staked to 13-3 lead. Huff was solid in a bounce-back effort after a rocky outing against the Reds on June 28. The rookie left-hander went six innings against the A's, allowing three runs on eight hits. He walked one and fanned four in garnering his fourth win of the season.
That performance bested Cahill, who allowed eight runs (five earned) in 3 2/3 innings.
Cleveland tallied solo runs in the sixth and seventh to round out the scoring. Its 15 runs mark the most the team has scored in a game since April 18, while pelting the Yankees with 22 runs in a 22-4 victory.
Skipper Eric Wedge was pleased with the performance on the mound and in the batter's box.
"I thought a great indicator for Huff tonight was the inning where we made a couple errors [top of the fifth]. He didn't give in, and that's a great sign for a young pitcher."
In the top of the fifth, Ben Francisco and Cabrera committed back-to-back errors to put two runners on with no outs. But Huff worked through it, coaxing a double play to get out of the jam.
In Huff's last outing, he was roughed up for seven runs (six earned) in an 8-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. His Friday performance, while not dominant, was a welcome sight for the Indians, whose staff had been rocked to the tune of a 6.50 ERA in the previous 15 games.
Huff and three relievers (Chris Perez, Rafael Perez, and Mike Gosling) combined to hold the A's to a 3-for-17 mark with runners in scoring position. It's those kind of clutch situations that have plagued the Tribe staff all season long -- prior to Friday's game, Cleveland ranked last in the American League in opposing batting average with runners in scoring position.
Friday's bashing of the Athletics also included an offensive performance that eclipsed anything the Tribe had done in its losing streak -- literally. Cleveland's 15 runs in the game were two more than it had scored in that five-game skid (13).
"With the bats, tonight was nice to see after the frustration we've had the last few nights," said Wedge.
The biggest of those bats, Choo, was a standout in both the final box score and the mind of the Tribe manager.
"He's a really good all-around ball player," said Wedge. "He hits right-handers, left-handers, hits with some power. He had a great night. You can't do much more than he did tonight."
What Choo did was equal his career high with four hits and four runs scored in a game. His two-homer game marked the second of his career, and he also stole a base (his 13th in 13 attempts this season). He is now batting .301 (87-for-289), with a .406 on-base percentage. The lefty slugger has 14 doubles, 12 home runs and 53 RBIs.
The Tribe's other hitting stars Friday were Cabrera (two doubles, three RBIs), Grady Sizemore (2-for-2, double, three walks) and Francisco (3-for-4, double). As a team, the Indians collected 15 base hits, their most in a game since June 3.
That all those hits and runs came in front of 26,557 to kick off the holiday weekend, in the 81st game of the 162-game season -- not half-bad.
Skip Snow is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
