Tribe Defense Backs Up Byrd's Beauty

Score: Indians 4 Athletics 0


Turning Point: In the Oakland half of the fifth, Paul Byrd was in a little bit of a jam with runners on first and second and only one out. Byrd was able to get strike out Donnie Murphy, and Victor Martinez threw out Bobby Crosby, who was attempting to steal third base to end the inning.


Analysis: Byrd kept the scoreless inning streak in tact. But he got plenty of help from his friends. The Indians were nursing a 1-0 lead through out most of this game. Grady Sizemore threw out Frank Thomas at home plate in the second inning and had a diving grab in center field later in the game. Asdrubal Cabrera made a diving catch over his shoulder in the eighth. David Dellucci made a leaping grab up against the wall in left field in the third inning. The defense answered the call all night. But that’s not to take anything away from Paul Byrd. Byrd had his best start of the season. At the plate, the offense sputtered most of the evening. After a Travis Hafner RBI single in the first, the Indians only had four more men reach base against Oakland starter, Justin Duchscherer. Ryan Garko finally got to the A’s bullpen, with a three run homer to straight away center field in the eighth.


MVP: Paul Byrd
As stated before on this blog, if the opponent can’t score, they can’t win. Byrd held Oakland in check on giving up five hits, and struck out a season high seven batters in 7 and 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball.


Extras:

- Travis Hafner continues to make strides towards regaining his batting form. He is six for fifteen at the plate during home stand, which is a .400 average. He is also having better at bats. Travis battled out of a 0-2 hole at the plate twice this evening for hits.

- Masa Kobayashi got his first major league save tonight, after pitching 1 and 1/3 innings of shutout ball. He gave up a hit and had a strikeout.

- All of the Indians runs were scored with two outs tonight.


Next Up: Game two of the three game set is tomorrow evening at 7:05 PM from Progressive Field. C.C. Sabathia, who out dueled Toronto ace, Roy Halladay, last start, will get the ball for Cleveland. He has not fared well against Oakland in his career, and looks to change things tomorrow night. Sabathia is 2-5 with a 6.55 ERA. Oakland will start the right handed, Joe Blanton. Blanton has put together three fantastic starts in a row, giving up only six earned runs in 19 and 2/3 innings of work over those starts. Blanton, too, is 2-5 with a 3.82 ERA.