Indians 2, Padres 0; Padres 2, Indians 1: Friars Split Double-Header

The Padres split a pair of low-scoring games in today's doubleheader, losing 2-0 in the morning game while eking out a 2-1 win in the afternoon game.

Game 1

The morning game was a bit of an unexpected pitchers' duel, staying scoreless until the bottom of the sixth, when Eric Stults served up a 2-run shot to Jason Kipnis. It would have been a solo shot had Alexi Amarista's throwing error not allowed Nick Swisher to reach base safely. But seeing as how Alexi also picked up 2 of the team's paltry 6 hits, I'm not going to give him a whole lot of grief for an error that didn't mean much of anything.

And that's really all that's worth saying about Game 1, so let's move on to the good stuff.

Game 2

Robbie Erlin made his first start of the season in Game 2, allowing just one run in his 6 innings of work on 4 hits. He also struck out 6 without giving up a single free pass. He got run support early, as the offense got its first early lead of the season. Everth Cabrera reached on an error by Asdrubal Cabrera (everybody have that straight?) to start the game. Chris Denorfia followed that up with a long fly ball that looked like an out but was called a double. Elliot Johnson dropped the ball on the transfer (which no longer counts as a catch this season). The Indians challenged, but the ruling was upheld. Everth then scored on a grounder from Seth Smith.

The Indians managed to tie the game back up in the third. Yan Gomes and that other Cabrera hit a pair of back to back singles, allowing Gomes to score easily on Mike Aviles's sacrifice fly. The game stayed tied until the sixth inning.

Cabrera singled, then Smith took one for the team. Yonder Alonso walked to load the bases for Chase Headley. With one out, Cleveland was desperate for Chase to hit into another bases loaded double play. He singled instead. 2-1 Padres. Erlin finished the inning, then handed the ball off to Dale Thayer, Joaquin Benoit, and Huston Street to wrap it up.

Tomorrow's an off day as our boys rest up for a 10-game homestand against the Tigers, Rockies, and Giants. Andrew Cashner will vie for his first win of the season at 7:10 PM on Friday.

Wonko was far and away the best at avoiding work today, and there were way too many recs all around to count. But if you want a quick quality check, the most recced comments came from Jodes, Drama, Axion, and myself, with 3 recs each.