Carlos Villanueva shines as Toronto Blue Jays shutout Cleveland Indians 3-0 – MLB Update
Carlos Villanueva struck-out a career high eight as Toronto Blue Jays shut-out the Cleveland Indians 3-0 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario on Sunday, July 15 in the finale of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Villanueva left the Indians with no escape as he pitched with electrifying control and accuracy for his fourth win of the season.
Striking-out eight and giving up just three hits in six scoreless innings, he made quick work of the Indians’ batting line-up. Relief pitcher Darren Oliver pitched two scoreless innings for his first save of the season.
Cleveland’s starting pitcher Derek Lowe, on the other hand, gave up three runs in six innings and took his seventh loss.
"I asked guys on the bench for advice," Lowe said. "I changed mechanically probably 50 times, just trying to find anything. The ball wasn't coming out too good so it was just try to invent stuff to keep yourself in the game."
"(Lowe) pitched well, there's nothing to complain about," Indians’ manager Manny Acta said. "He gave us six solid innings, we just couldn't do anything offensively."
"I'm glad I came out on top today," Villanueva said, "and keep us at least close to that second wild card. We want every single game we play to matter."
J.P. Arencibia singled to centre in the third and Kelly Johnson scored to put Toronto on the board. Colby Rasmus singled to right-centre and Adam Lind walked in the third to give the Blue Jays a decisive 3-0 lead.
After prevailing in a high scoring thriller 9-11 in Game 2, the Blue Jays continued their excellent work on Sunday to get one past the .500 win percentage mark.
John Farrell and company may be at the bottom of the American League East Division standings but time and again, they have shown that they have the capacity to beat even the best in the business.
In baseball, things can change quickly. A 10-game win streak can take a team to the post-season and the Blue Jays will be hoping to ride a similar streak to turn things around.
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