Carmona pitches Tribe back into first
08/15/2007 10:10 PM ET
Carmona pitches Tribe back into first
Right-hander strikes out career-high 10, allows one earned run
By David Briggs / MLB.com
CLEVELAND -- A message scrawled in black ink across the dry erase board
hanging in the Indians clubhouse read, "Jair Jurrjens -- NO VIDEO."
So where film of the night's opposing pitcher would typically be playing,
highlights from past Indians victories over the Tigers played instead from
the room's hanging televisions before Wednesday's game.
A few hours later, the Indians added another highlight to the reel with one
of their season's biggest wins as they shoved aside Detroit, 5-2, in front of
39,250 at Jacobs Field.
Asked how desperately the Tribe needed this victory, closer Joe Borowski
said, "On a scale of about one to 10, I'd say about 12."
And not only because the win pushed the Tribe back into a tie atop the
American League Central. Rather, the game's importance rested in the timing
of a stretch in which confidence was low, wins were few and starter Fausto
Carmona couldn't buy offensive support.
"With what's been going on," manager Eric Wedge said, "you definitely put
more stock in a game like this. It was a big win for us."
Particularly for Carmona, who was superb once again, allowing just two runs
-- one earned -- on four hits while striking out a career-high 10 over eight
innings.
What made this outing different is that his brilliance finally paid off.
The Tribe's offense, which had only backed Carmona with four runs over his
last four outings, tagged Jurrjens for four runs. So even while it may have
taken a pitcher making his big league debut to thaw Cleveland's icy bats, it
mattered little.
Carmona (14-7) was a winner once more.
"[The runs were] important because it gave me some confidence," Carmona said
through first base coach Luis Rivera. "After I got those runs, I felt real
good about my game."
The 23-year-old right-hander was as dominant as ever, adeptly mixing in his
slider with his searing mid-90s sinking fastball to have baseball's
second-highest scoring offense either striking out or flailing to chop weak
ground ball after ground ball.
"Just another outstanding performance," Wedge said.
Said Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge of Carmona, "Tonight, wow."
Only a second-inning error by first baseman Ryan Garko kept Carmona from
carrying a shutout into the eighth inning. And when he pitched into danger in
the eighth, Carmona coolly shut down the heart of Detroit's order.
After giving up a single and a triple to lead off the inning, Carmona punched
out Marcus Thames before inducing a lineout to short from Gary Sheffield and
a groundout from Magglio Ordonez. Inning over.
Inning over. Game over. At least it seemed that way. Borowski, battered for
four runs the night before, pitched an uneventful ninth for his 33rd save.
But Wedge pointed to that eighth-inning escape as the defining moment of a
defining win.
"You talk about raising your level of game in a key situation, he did it
right there," Wedge said.
Perhaps, relatively speaking, the same could be said for the offense.
Franklin Gutierrez drove an opposite-field two-run homer into the
right-center-field stands in the second inning, Victor Martinez singled in a
run in the third and the hobbling Travis Hafner hit an opposite-field double
and worked an RBI walk in the eighth inning.
Baby steps, yes, but steps nonetheless.
"This was important to get the offense rolling again," Hafner said.
Important, too, for the team's psyche.
"We keep saying it's only a matter of time," Borowski said.
Who knows when that time will come? But as Hafner said, "Today was a good
step."
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