Game 141: Indians 2, Twins 0

Perhaps Fausto's nice outing against Seattle was due to the quality of the hitters he faced. Tonight's pitching performance, against a hot team making a playoff push, doesn't come with caveats. Carmona pitched a three-hitter, striking out seven and walking just one. It was an outing reminscent in outcome of 2007, but the method used to get there was different. Three years ago, Carmona was throwing complete games with essentially one pitch. Tonight he used two pitches (sinker and changeup) with almost equal effectiveness, using one to set up another. He also was spotting his pitches with precision, something he's always fighting to do. Some of his changeups were aesthetic masterpieces, made so not because of the pitch itself but the prolific swings straining to hit them.

Jason Kubel reached base in the fourth inning, shooting a single past a diving Jason Donald. He was subsequently erased on a double play to end the inning. Carmona wouldn't allow a base runner after that, retiring the last 16 batters he faced.

LGFT Carl Pavano wasn't that much worse than Carmona, going the distance (8 innings) and allowing two runs on six hits. Matt LaPorta hit a solo homer in the second to give the Indians the lead. In the fifth, after Jason Donald singled to lead off the inning, Lou Marson lined a double past future DH Delmon Young to chase Donald to third. Asdrubal Cabrera then hit a foul ball out deep enough to score Donald. That's where the score remained.

Although Chris Perez started warming in the bottom of the eighth just in case Carmona labored in the ninth, he wasn't needed. Fausto looked as crisp at the end of the game than at another time during the contest. He struck out the first two batters of the inning, then got Orlando Hudson to roll over on a pitch to complete his shutout and first victory in a month.

via www.fangraphs.com