The logical conclusion to these two lineups facing each other. A total of seven hits, all singles, and ten walks, but only one run, which was scored in the first inning on a broken-bat single. That run came at the expense of Fausto Carmona, who settled down immediately, but because the Indians were shut down by Luke French, that run stood up.
Carmona walked five, but walks aren't always indicative of problems for him. He allowed four hits, two of them coming in the first inning, and struck out six. For Carmona, throwing a lot of balls doesn't necessarily mean disaster, as long his pitches have movement. In this case, his pitches were moving; combine that with a poor lineup, and you have eight innings completed with just 103 pitches despite those five walks. Other pitchers should not try this at home (or on the road).
French was better than Carmona, though; the Indians didn't get a hit through 6.1 innings, their only hit against hit came on a Shelley Duncan single in the seventh. French, who was nearing 100 pitches, was pulled after the seventh, and the Indians fare batter against Seattle's relievers, but couldn't push the tying run across. In the ninth, Trevor Crowe led off the inning with a walk, but was caught stealing. That would come back to haunt the Indians, for Michael Brantley and Asdrubal Cabrera would follow with singles. After a wild pitch would allow Brantley and Cabrera to move up a base, Shelley Duncan, clean-up hitter, struck out to end the game.
Highest WPA | Lowest WPA | ||
Fausto Carmona | .205 | Jayson Nix | -.216 |
Michael Brantley | .074 | Jason Donald | -.175 |
Matt LaPorta | .057 | Shelley Duncan | -.174 |