News
Tribe again stymied by Twins' Baker
Masterson solid, but Minnesota righty has Indians' number
By Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com
09/05/09 9:12 PM ET
CLEVELAND -- What we have here is a mismatch. Twins right-hander Scott Baker is having a solid season. But it's a season that morphs into Cy Young Award-type status when he faces the Indians. The Tribe faced Baker for the fourth time in 2009 at Progressive Field on Saturday afternoon, and the result was familiar. It was a 4-1 loss in front of 19,455 fans for the Indians, against whom Baker is 4-0 with a 0.93 ERA. This time around, Baker limited the Indians to a lone run -- an Andy Marte solo shot -- on three hits with four walks and four strikeouts in six innings. "He's been a tough matchup for us," manager Eric Wedge said. "We mis-hit a lot of balls, and we fouled a lot of balls off. He does a good job moving his fastball around. For whatever reason, we just haven't been seeing him very well." This game wasn't seen by many people. It was a late scratch from the FOX Sports "Game of the Week" slate, so it didn't air on local television in either market. Indians fans didn't miss much, because the Tribe bats didn't do much to support a strong start from Justin Masterson. Masterson gave the Indians six innings in which he allowed a pair of runs, only one of which was earned, on five hits with five walks and two strikeouts. The walks prevented him from lasting deep into the ballgame, but it was a quality start, nonetheless. Four of the five walks issued by Masterson opened innings, and that was his lone regret. "For the most part, we had a good time walking the first batter," Masterson said. "It would have been nice to change that. ... It was just a weird anomaly." One weird play got the best of Masterson and saddled him with the loss. In the fourth, Masterson had runners on the corners with two out and served up a bouncing double down the left-field line by Nick Punto. Jason Kubel scored from third. That would have been the lone run to cross on the play, but the ball ricocheted off the wall down the line and got away from Jamey Carroll in left, allowing Jose Morales to score from first to give the Twins a 2-1 lead. "When [the ball] gets in that corner over there," Wedge said, "it can be really tricky." That ball, like so many others on which the Twins made contact against Masterson, wasn't a lined shot. For the most part, Masterson, when he wasn't walking people, used his sinker to keep the ball on the ground. It is that ability that leads the Indians to believe Masterson will eventually be successful in the starting role they transitioned him into upon acquiring him in the Victor Martinez trade. "With his stuff, they're going to mis-hit a lot of baseballs," Wedge said. "So we need him to be more aggressive early in the inning and early in counts." Even if Masterson had been more aggressive, he still would have needed more help on the offensive end. Marte's homer to left came on a 2-2 pitch in the third and gave the Tribe a short-lived 1-0 lead. But Marte, who has homered twice off Baker in 10 at-bats, is evidently the only member of the Indians who has the Twins hurler figured out. "He threw a lot of fastballs," Marte said. "They can get on you a little bit. When you throw strikes and get ahead, it makes it tough on us." The Indians stranded runners at second and third in the sixth, which was Baker's final inning, and they continued to go down quietly after Baker departed. The Twins added an insurance run that was charged to Rafael Perez in the eighth and another off Jess Todd in the ninth to put this one to bed. But Baker had already set the tone by then. The mismatch gave the Indians their fifth loss in six games.Anthony Castrovince is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
