 Indians nip Jays as Tomlin fills in for Westbrook
2010-07-31 18:14:00
Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Shin-Soo Choo went 2-for-5 and hit the go-ahead RBI double in the seventh inning, as the Cleveland Indians edged the Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1, in the middle test of a three-game series. The victory snaps Cleveland's three-game slide and comes on a busy day for the Indians, who continued to make moves. Following their trade of Austin Kearns to the Yankees on Friday, they shipped Jake Westbrook to the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-team trade and traded Kerry Wood to the Yankees on Saturday.
Westbrook was supposed to start Saturday's contest, but was scratched shortly before the game, and Josh Tomlin got the ball for his second major league start. Tomlin allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings, while Jensen Lewis (3-2) got the victory for pitching an inning of scoreless relief.
"I found out about it last night," Tomlin said of the trade. "I knew ahead of time it could be a possibility. It wasn't a for-sure deal, so I came in today ready to go just in case."
Toronto loaded the bases with one out in the ninth inning, but Chris Perez held on to seal the victory and get his 11th save.
The Indians took the lead in the fourth inning, when Choo and Carlos Santana led off with singles. After Matt LaPorta lined out, Shelley Duncan walked to load the bases. Jayson Nix then struck out, but Toronto starter Brett Cecil walked Jason Donald to force in a run.
However, that was the only run given up by Cecil in six innings, during which he walked five, gave up five hits and struck out five. He was not on the line for the loss when he left the game thanks to Jose Molina's solo homer in the fifth.
"A lot of guys have come up to me and said, 'Last year you would have been out in four innings, five, six runs,'" Cecil said. "But this year everybody says, 'It's totally different the way you approach hitters when you have men on base.'"
But after Lewis got Tomlin and the Indians out of the sixth, Brian Tallet (1-4) gave up the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh.
He walked Asdrubal Cabrera before Choo hit a ball down the left field line. After it bounced fair, left fielder Fred Lewis chased it into foul territory, but bobbled the ball and made a late throw, allowing Cabrera to score from first for a 2-1 Cleveland edge.
Lewis got one out in the bottom half before Joe Smith took over and worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Toronto had a good chance to even the game in the ninth, which Vernon Wells opened with a single. Perez then hit Adam Lind with a pitch, and Aaron Hill's bunt moved the runners into scoring position.
Perez intentionally walked Lyle Overbay to fill the bases, but fanned Edwin Encarnacion and Travis Snider to end the game.
Game Notes
Toronto had won its last four games...Wells had two hits for the Blue Jays...Duncan had two hits for the Indians and made a diving catch on a Lewis fly ball to left in the eighth inning...Tomlin gave up four hits, walked two and struck out five.
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