CLEVELAND, Ohio — Before the Indians played the White Sox on Monday afternoon, Tribe designated hitter Travis Hafner told
reporters he was on the verge of returning to form. He was locked in a
5-for-37 slide over the previous 11 games but felt he had found
something in his final at-bat Sunday against Texas.
Based on the results of the day game against the White Sox, Hafner
might be correct. But even he could not have envisioned how potentially
busting loose would manifest itself.
Hafner homered and tripled — yes, tripled — as part of the Indians’
8-6 triumph over the White Sox in the first game of a day-night
doubleheader Monday at Progressive Field. Right-hander Zach McAllister,
recalled from Class AAA Columbus to make the start, allowed two earned
runs in six innings to earn his first major-league victory.
Shelley Duncan’s
run-scoring double in the bottom of the eighth inning gave the Indians a
3-2 victory in the second game. Paid attendance: 10,483.
See Shelley Duncan’s eighth-inning double 
The Indians (17-11) have won six of seven overall. They lead the AL
Central by three games over Detroit, which slipped to 14-14 after a
ninth-inning loss at Seattle late Monday.
The third-place White Sox (13-17) have lost six of seven.
“What makes me happy is, we’re starting to play better baseball at
home,” Tribe manager Manny Acta said. “It seems like we’re getting the
hang of it again.”
The Indians have won six of eight at Progressive Field to get to 8-8.
Inclement weather pushed back the first game’s first pitch from 1:05
to 1:31 p.m. How many of the 9,196 paying customers actually attended
and stayed for the duration is uncertain. But those who did made noise
and seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Why not? It is not every day fans will be able to see Hafner play
action baseball. In fact, it had been almost 10 years since Hafner
homered and tripled in a game. The only other occasions were Aug. 14,
2003, at Minnesota and Sept. 1, 2003, at Detroit.
With the Tribe trailing, 1-0, in the second inning, Hafner went
conventional Pronk, launching right-hander Philip Humber’s curveball
into the right-field seats.
Game 1 highlights
The Indians scored two more in the inning on Michael Brantley’s single and Casey Kotchman’s force-out.
After the White Sox pulled within 3-2 in the third, the Indians
erupted for five in their half. Brantley and Kotchman hit consecutive
two-run doubles, and Asdrubal Cabrera walked with the bases loaded.
Humber, who pitched a perfect game April 21 at Seattle, gave up eight
runs on nine hits in 21/3 innings. He is 1-2 with a 6.83 ERA.
The White Sox cut the deficit to 8-4 in the fourth.
With two outs in the Tribe sixth, the Earth stood still at the corner
of Carnegie and Ontario. Hafner blasted a pitch deep to center, then
channeled Kenny Lofton with a stylish dash around the bases. He did not
merely make it to third; he cruised into third, standing.
Or so it seemed.
“I was thinking double but was forced into a triple when I saw the way the ball hit off the wall,” Hafner said.
It was Hafner’s first triple since May 29, 2007, at Boston — a span
of 1,711 at-bats. The former triple jumper at Sykeston (N.D.) High
School is now the proud owner of 11 triples in the big leagues.
“I didn’t realize it had been so long since my last one,” he said. “After a while, they all start to run together.”
Acta had teased Hafner over the weekend about Rangers first basemen playing so far behind him.
“He’s not like this slow donkey you can play behind,” Acta said. “It
was cool to see that triple. It was fun to see him go. The whole dugout
was screaming at him.”
The Tribe put the enjoyment on hold in the ninth. Chicago scored twice against Jairo Asencio and had a runner on first with none out. Acta, his back-end relievers needing a day off, opted for lefty Nick Hagadone.
With dozens of birds circling above the field, Hagadone retired two
White Sox on fly outs before he walked Alejandro De Aza. Brent
Lillibridge grounded to second, securing Hagadone’s first major-league
save.
Closer Chris Perez was throwing in the bullpen, just in case.
“If I had gotten into trouble, Chris might have come in,” Hagadone
said. “But I couldn’t think about that. It was a game I needed to
finish, and it felt good that Manny had confidence in me.”
The Indians had not had pitchers earn their first career victory and
save in the same game since July 18, 1993, when Albie Lopez (win) and
Jerry DiPoto (save) did so in a 2-1 victory over California.
Rain stopped play in the top of the eighth inning of the second game.
The delay began at 9:09 p.m. and lasted 1 hour, 25 minutes.
Tribe right-hander Josh Tomlin had
exited with one out in the eighth and runners on first and second. He
was relieved by Dan Wheeler before the delay, which came with the Tribe
leading, 2-1. Joe Smith entered the game after the delay; Wheeler, because of its length, never pitched.
Smith gave up a run-scoring single to Alex Rios to tie it. With
runners on first and third, Smith fell behind Adam Dunn, 3-1. After
taking a strike that he thought was a ball, Dunn tapped to Smith, who
triggered a 1-6-3 double play.
Cabrera led off the Tribe eighth with a bloop single into right-center against lefty Matt Thornton. Carlos Santana’s bloop to right-center pushed Cabrera to third.
After Hafner popped out, Duncan hit a liner into the left-field
corner. Duncan entered the night at 3-for-20 with runners in scoring
position and was 0-for-1 with RISP in the game to that point.
“Shelley needed it, and we needed it,” Acta said. “It was a good
matchup for him, and he took advantage of it. We’re getting
contributions from just about everybody.”
Duncan is hitting .313 (10-for-32) against lefties.
Tony Sipp pitched the ninth for the save. He walked pinch hitter Paul
Konerko with two outs. Tyler Flowers hammered a moon shot foul on the
first pitch and eventually struck out.
Smith ribbed Sipp in the postgame clubhouse about Flowers’ foul, which sailed past the left-field pole.
“Get ahead in the count, right?” Smith said. “Doesn’t matter if it’s 500 feet, as long as it’s foul.”
Smith was not supposed to be available. Acta desperately wanted to rest Smith, Perez and righty setup man Vinnie Pestano.
”I’m really thankful Joe Smith decided to pitch,” Acta said. “And
Tony picked us up. If it wasn’t Tony on the mound, it was going to be
Michael Brantley or somebody else.”
Smith said: “I felt good enough. There was no reason not to pitch. Those guys needed a break.”
Chicago took a 1-0 lead in the fifth. Dayan Viciedo singled and moved
to third on Flowers’ double into the left-field corner. Brent Morel had
a run-scoring grounder to short, Flowers advancing to third.
With the infield in, De Aza grounded sharply to second baseman Jason
Kipnis, who made a short-hop pick on the glove side and held Flowers at
third. Gordon Beckham grounded to third baseman Jason Donald, whose
throw to first was wide but was reeled in by Santana stretching toward
right field.
The Indians answered with two runs in their half of the inning. The
first two batters went quietly against lefty Eric Stults, then No. 9 Lou Marson worked the count full and walked. Marson was hitting .059 and slugging .118 at the time.
With Brantley at the plate, Marson shocked the White Sox — and
probably teammates — by attempting to steal. Catcher Flowers had the
ball pop out of his hand, but he never would have gotten Marson, who
swiped his first bag in his first attempt this season.
Brantley grounded a single through the hole at second to drive in his
fourth run of the day. It was Cleveland’s second hit off Stults.
Brantley took second on the throw through, which proved significant when
Kipnis singled to right. Brantley scored easily.
Soon thereafter, rain began to fall in earnest. It intensified in the top of the seventh.
Tomlin gave up the two runs on five hits, walked two and struck out a career-high eight. He threw 64 of 104 pitches for strikes.
“Josh was unbelievable,” Smith said. “I wish I’d have gotten Rios to
hit into the double play to get him the win. He certainly deserved
it.”
Tomlin was unfazed as rain made for difficult playing and pitching conditions in the latter stages of his outing.
”Some pitches squirted on me, but it was the same for both teams,” he said.
That’s all for today.
