Spring Training Game #28: Diamondbacks 7, Indians 5
Masterson's solid outing thwarted by defensive missteps
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March 23, 2013
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Lineup:
PITCHERS There are many ways a baseball team can lose a game. They can be outhit. That was not the case on Friday night as the Indians outhit the Diamondbacks 9-7 and were even in the RBI column of the box at 5. They can be outpitched. Again, that's not the case as the Indians pitchers allowed two less earned runs (5-to-3) and doubled up the Arizona pitching staff in striikeouts, 12-6, while walking one less batter (4-to-3). No, the Cleveland Indians came up on the short end of a 7-5 result at Goodyear Ballpark because they were simply outfielded by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Yes, the Tribe was outfielded. While the linescore may only show two errors to the Diamonbacks' one, those two errors were very costly. This is reflected in starting pitcher Justin Masterson's line, which shows five runs, but only one of them earned. The first error came in the second inning, when a fielding miscue by Asdrubal Cabrera allowed two Diamondbacks to score. Another run later in the inning was also unearned as the would-have-been-third out occurred in the interim. The second error came in the fourth inning as a bad throw by Lonnie Chisenhall allowed the inning to continue, and yet another unearned run scored. Besides Masterson's solid effort, other noteworthy performances lost in the circus of poor fielding included scoreless eighth and ninth innings from Joe Smith and Rich Hill respectively, as well as two-RBI performances from both LF Michael Brantley (third inning single) and DH Mark Reynolds (sixth inning two-run blast to left--editors note: if you didn't see the game Friday night, you simply have to go to Indians.com and check out Mark Reynolds blast. He launched the pitch far over the left-field scoreboard. I don't know what the official measurement ended up being, but it was speculated that it was at or past 500 feet. He destroyed a fastball) Right now, all that any of us can do is be glad that this game didn't count and look forward to Saturday's ballgame: a 4:05 PM tilt against the Seattle Mariners in Peoria (Arizona, not Illinois). The game will be televised live on MLB Network and will air live on WTAM 1100 AM and various other affiliates across the Cleveland Indians Radio Network. Indians starter Scott Kazmir will take the bump in one of his last starts of the spring.
