UPDATED: Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Indians on Thursday night at Progressive Field. How bad was it? Third baseman Andy Marte pitched the ninth, and he was one of the Indians' highlights.
View full sizeThird baseman Andy Marte changes roles on Thursday night, pitching a 1-2-3 ninth inning after six Indians pitchers already had surrendered 11 runs to the Yankees at Progressive Field.Updated at 12:48 a.m.
CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Indians had two things to smile about Thursday night.
No. 1, Alex Rodriguez didn't hit his 600th home run on their home ground. No. 2, the four-game series against the Yankees gave their weak attendance figures a needed boost.
Mostly, though, it was a study in a good big-market team beating a not- so-good small- market team at nearly every turn.
In Thursday's 11-4 loss to the Yankees, the Indians lost starter Mitch Talbot to a back strain after two innings. The bullpen, a key to the Indians' 8-6 record since the All-Star break, had to cover the last seven innings, and it was not a pretty thing to watch.
Things were so bad that manager Manny Acta sent out backup third baseman Andy Marte to pitch the ninth.
The most recent non-pitcher to pitch in a game for the Indians was Tim Laker on April 20, 2004, against Kansas City.
Besides Talbot's injury, catcher Carlos Santana took a Joe Smith pitch off his left knee in the seventh.
View full sizeShin-Soo Choo makes a sliding catch on a ball hit by Derek Jeter in the first inning.He was down for several minutes but finished the inning. He did not come out for the eighth.
After the game, Acta said Talbot will not make the trip to Toronto, where the Indians open a three-game series tonight.
"He's going to stay back and get an MRI on his back," said Acta.
The Indians need to add a reliever to refresh their overworked bullpen. Short starts by Fausto Carmona and Talbot in the past two games have left the pen in a bad way.
Santana said he was OK and should be able to play tonight. The Indians, however, are contemplating making a move with DH Travis Hafner. He missed Thursday's game with a sore right shoulder.
"His shoulder is bothering him," said Acta. "It's expected to be day to day. . . . We can't afford to have our hands tied, especially with the situation [going through the toughest part of the schedule] that we're going through. We'll have to evaluate that situation too."
Marte started the ninth and retired the side in order. He struck out Nick Swisher for the second out and topped out at 88 mph.
"That's something I don't like doing," said Acta. "I did it because I had to. I feel that looks like a mockery of the game. . . . But we had no choice. Given the game Wednesday and the game tonight."
A crowd of 34,455 watched Thursday's game. It was the second-biggest crowd of the season. The four-game series drew 112,060 for the Indians, who are last in the majors in attendance.
The Indians took a 1-0 lead against Dustin Moseley (1-0, 3.24 ERA) on Austin Kearns' sacrifice fly in the first. Moseley, 4-0 lifetime against the Indians, didn't allow another run in his six-inning performance.
The rest of the game belonged to the Yankees. Indians pitchers assisted by walking a season-high 12 batters. Marte was the only one who didn't walk a batter.
Two outs into the seventh, the game was still competitive. The Yankees had a 2-1 lead, but no one was on base against Tony Sipp. Then Robinson Cano homered to start a seven-run rally.
The Yankees sent 12 men to the plate. Five of them reached on four walks and a hit batter. Smith, riding a streak of 14 consecutive scoreless innings, relieved Sipp after Cano's homer and saw his streak come to a violent end.
He allowed four runs on three hits in one-third of an inning. Rodriguez reached Smith for a two-run single before he ended the inning.
"We had a pretty good game going up until the seventh," said Acta.
The Yankees scored two more runs in the eighth. Rodriguez once again came to the plate with the bases loaded, but Jess Todd struck him out. Rodriguez went 1-for-4 Thursday with three RBI. For the series, he went 3-for-17 but did not become the seventh man in history to hit 600 homers.
Marte became the 21st position player to pitch for the Indians.
"Manny talked to me about pitching in the eighth," said Marte. "I told him, 'Are you sure?' "
The next thing Marte did was go to Carmona to find out how to grip the ball to throw a sinker. He tried pitching out of the stretch, but his third pitch sailed over Cano's head. So he went to the windup.
He retired Cano on a grounder to second, struck out Swisher on a high fastball and retired Marcus Thames on a liner to third.
"I was happy," said Marte. "I made my debut pitching against the Yankees. I wish it would have been somebody else."
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: phoynes@plaind.com, 216-999-5158