Cleveland Indians defeat Oakland Athletics 9-8 – MLB Update
American League’s Cleveland Indians overpowered league rivals Oakland Athletics in a close 9-8 confrontation in the Cactus League competition Monday, March 14 at Goodyear Ballpark in Arizona.
Indians got their sixth victory to their name with a 6-9 record while the opponent’s record moved to 7-10 after another loss.
Cleveland’s right-handed starting pitcher Justin Masterson opened the game and allowed five runs on seven hits striking-out four valuable batters in four innings. He was playing his second game of the season against the Athletics after spring debut on March
2 against the same opponent in Arizona. He has managed 6-13 record with a 4.70 ERA in 29 starts for the Indians last year.
The 23-year-old pitcher Jeanmar Gomez proved the most expensive in terms of home-runs. He permitted two homers, both by Athletics’ first baseman Chris Carter who had three RBIs and two runs on two hits in four at-bats. However, Chad Durbin provided relief
with his two scoreless innings striking-out two batters.
Oakland’s Dallas Braden seems completely out of momentum consuming six runs including four earned runs of seven hits in four innings. However, he still managed to strike-out three. Jerry Blevins was given a chance on the second rotation spot and he did justice
with this decision striking-out two in two scoreless innings followed by Brad Ziegler, who also remained scoreless in less than an inning.
At bats, Cleveland’s Austin Kearns and Travis Hafner both made two runs each followed by Orlando Cabrera, Adam Everett, Shin-Soo Choo and Phelps scored one run each to post nine runs on board. While Oakland’s Carter, Matt Carson and Jemile Weeks posted two
runs each to help the club score eight runs. Athletics’ managed to tie the game in the eighth inning but failed to restrict the opponents from surpassing.
Athletics faced a problem when Andrew Bailey complained of soreness in his pitching arm and had to leave the field. The team officials said Dr. James Andrews would examine him and the information regarding his condition would be made public once it was available.
"He had tightness down his forearm, from the elbow down," manager Bob Geren said. "He's being checked out. He has been doing everything the right way.”
Athletics will play their next game against Chicago White Sox. Oakland has scheduled Brett Anderson to compete against Andrew Kashner. The Indians have decided against Milwaukee Brewers in Goodyear on Tuesday, to move forward Mitch Talbot against the Brewers’
Chris Narveson.
It will be interesting to see how Cleveland manages to carry their confidence and winning momentum into their next match-up. Oakland will be looking to improve their performance and get their offence to support their pitching line-up with some much needed
runs.
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