In today's game preview I talked about how Tyson Ross hadn't allowed a hit or a run in either of his Spring Training starts prior to today. Unfortunately Ross wasn't able to continue that streak as the Indians tagged him for three runs in 3 1/3 innings today. The first two runs came with two outs in the 1st inning. Asdrubal Cabrera walked and stole second, then the cleanup hitter Carlos Santana homered to make it an early 2-0 lead for Cleveland. Ross gave up another run in the 3rd inning, allowing two hits and two walks. Ross threw 35 pitches (20 for strikes), walking three and striking out two along the way. Not a great outing, but it allowed him to build up some endurance.
Fortunately for the Padres, Cleveland's starter ended up giving up three runs of his own. Corey Kluber's runs all came in the top of the 4th, his last inning on the mound. Back-to-back one-out doubles by Xavier Nady and Alex Dickerson put San Diego on the board. Dickerson came home when the next batter, Alex Castellanos, singled and then reached second on the throw. With two outs, a wild pitch to Rene Rivera moved Castellanos over to 3rd. Then a double by Rivera brought him home to even up the score.
The Indians got the lead back in the bottom of the 4th with help from a wild pitch by Leonel Campos and a throwing error by Alberto Gonzalez. But Nady homered in the 6th to make it a tie game again. After that, things got ugly.
Another Indians run came home in the bottom of the 7th off Dale Thayer, breaking the tie once more. But it was the 8th inning that really sealed the victory for Cleveland. Anthony Carter came in to relieve Thayer and after getting the first out of the inning fairly easily, things fell apart for the right-hander. I won't get into all the ugly details, but Carter allowed five runs to come home and exited the game before even recording a second out. Two more runs scored in the inning off Carter's replacement, Kevin Quackenbush, but the first of those was credited to Carter.
WG love 'em, our Padres started to rally in the top of the 9th. Rocky Gale led off the inning with a single. But it wasn't until two outs later that the magic began to happen. Rymer Liriano, pinch-hitting for Reymond Fuentes, knocked a two-out two-run shot to left field on the the first pitch he saw. Tommy Medica, who up until that point had gone 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, followed with a double. Medica's 1-for-5 day lowered his Spring batting average to a MEASLY .441. Another double by Jace Peterson brought home the third Padres run of the inning. But that is the extent to which the Padres were able to rally as Dickerson grounded out to end the inning and the game.
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| Total comments | 111 |
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| Commenter list | Axion, B Cres, CurbEnthusiasm, Friar Fever, Jonathan Holmes, SD_Hat_Guy, Sam (sdsuaztec4), TheThinGwynn, Wonko, jodes0405, lonndoggie, mrbarneydangles |
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Wonko once again dominated with 52 comments. I came home with the lead in recs with 2, with CurbEnthusiasm receiving the only other rec of the thread.