Masterson Falters in 6-3 Loss

On Tuesday night the Indians took the lead early, added on in the middle, and then fell apart late. When the dust settled, they had fallen to the Orioles 6-3.

Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

In the top of the first the Indians took a 1-0 lead when Michael Brantley hit a sacrifice fly to score Mike Aviles. It was Brantley’s 38th RBI of the season and his fifth over the course of the past two games. The Indians added to their lead in the top of the fifth thanks to Jason Kipnis. With Michael Bourn aboard, Kipnis delivered with a home run to left center. The homer was Kipnis’ 10th of the season and gave the Indians a 3-0 lead. With How Masterson was pitching, this looked like the Indians night.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. Masterson imploded in the bottom of the seventh allowing the Orioles to tie things up and ultimately take the lead for good. After J.J. Hardy drove in a run in the bottom half of the fifth, Chris Davis made his presence known in the seventh. With Adam Jones on base ahead of him, Davis blasted a three run homer to right, his major league leading 28th bomb of the season. Four batters later, Alexi Casilla belted a three-run home run to right to put the O’s up by a score of 6-3.

For Masterson, yesterday’s start was a massive disappointment. After pitching well the first 6 innings of the game, the wheels completely fell off in the bottom half of the seventh. 6 runs and 2 home runs in the frame, and the end result was not a pleasant one. The bullpen did an admirable job keeping the scoring to a minimum, but the offense was never able to get enough going against Chris Tillman, Troy Patton, and Jim Johnson. The three of them combined to allow just 3 runs on 6 hits on 6 hits while striking out 8.

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The Good: Jason Kipnis continued his hot hitting ways once again by going 2 for 2 with two walks, two RBI, and a home run. He is on a tear right now and knocking the cover off of the ball. He has done a phenomenal job rebounding from his rough start to the season offensively.

The Bad: Nick Swisher, Carlos Santana, and Michael Brantley all went hitless on the evening. Brantley still managed to rack up an RBI with a sacrifice fly, but even still, neither player had a particularly good night at the plate.