Indians lose to Mariners, 3-0, for their 13th shutout loss of the year.
Cleanup hitter Travis Hafner trudges back to the dugout after one of his three strikeouts Sunday in a 3-0 loss to the Mariners in Seattle.Seattle, Wash. -- Manny Acta has this saying about shutouts. He may change a few words here and there, but the meaning stays the same.
The bad thing is he's said it way too many times this season. How many times would that be? Try an American League-leading 13.
No. 13 arrived Sunday courtesy of Felix Hernandez and Dave Aardsma as they combined on a four-hitter in Seattle's 3-0 victory over the Indians at Safeco Field. The Indians managed to split the four-game series despite being shut out in the second and last games of the series.
"I don't care about getting shut out," said Acta. "I've told you that 100 times already.
"If I win 100 games, I don't care if the 62 losses are shutouts. What I care about is winning and losing. We got shut out by Felix Hernandez. It wasn't Joe Blow off the streets. This guy could shut out the 1927 Yankees when he's on."
Regarding winning and losing, the Indians lost for the 82nd time Sunday. They're 55-82 and have 25 games left to play. They need to win at least eight of those to avoid losing 100 games for the first time since 1991.
Hernandez (11-10, 2.30) is the best pitcher in baseball with only 11 victories. He held the Indians to four hits over eight innings. He struck out nine, including cleanup hitter Travis Hafner three times.
The Indians three, four and five hitters, Shin-Soo Choo, Hafner and Jayson Nix, struck out a combined six times against Hernandez. For the season, Hernandez leads the big leagues with 209 strikeouts.
Indians manager Manny Acta knows a mismatch when he sees it. Seattle starter Felix Hernandez, above, "was just way too much for us'' Acta said after Hernandez struck out nine Indians and held them to four hits in eight innings."Felix was just way too much for us," said Acta. "We're not really a good match-up with him. We're second in the league in strikeouts and he's on top in strikeouts. He was tough."
It was a tough game all the way around for the Indians. Nix, who is still using training wheels at third base, made two more errors. He has nine in 23 games at third for the Tribe.
In the fifth Acta was ejected for arguing a call at second base. With two out and Josh Wilson on first, Ichiro Suzuki sent a grounder to short. Asdrubal Cabrera grabbed the ball and hit second with his foot in almost one motion.
Umpire Hunter Wendlestedt said he missed the bag and called Wilson safe. Cabrera argued as Acta came on the field. Acta voiced his complaint for a few minutes before Wendlestedt ejected him. Acta pleaded his case to crew chief Jerry Layne to no avail.
It was Acta's second ejection this season. Bench coach Tim Tolman took over the club.
Replays showed Cabrera did touch the bag.
"The replays clearly showed he blew the play," said Acta. "I just went out there to argue the play and keep him away from Cabrera. I felt he was very aggressive. I still don't know why I got thrown out. I wasn't even facing him."
Last year Hernandez won 19 games and probably should have won the AL Cy Young, but it went to 16-game winner Zack Greinke. This year he's having another great year except for victories. A lot of that is a byproduct of Seattle having the worst offense in the AL.
Jeanmar Gomez (3-3, 3.07) allowed two runs in six innings in the loss. He gave up a run in the second when Cabrera made a bad throw to first on what should have been an inning-ending double play. Russell Branyan made it 2-0 with a leadoff homer in the sixth.
Branyan, who doubled home Seattle's third run in the eighth, has a power connection with the Tribe. He hit 10 with the Indians at the start of the year before they traded him to Seattle. He hit three in this series and four for the year against the Tribe.
He has 23 homers overall.
"Branyan did his part when he was playing for us," said Acta. "Now he's over here doing what he does best -- hitting for power."
Gomez struck out three and allowed seven hits. He threw 69 percent of his pitches (70-for-102) for strikes.
"He did what we wanted him to do," said Acta. "He kept them close to us because we knew Felix was going to be stingy when it came to giving up runs."
Aardsma pitched the ninth for his 28th save.