Tribe starter Mitch Talbot exited after three batters and was replaced by Justin Masterson, who pitched seven innings.
UPDATED: 5:41 p.m.
View full sizeCleveland Indians starter Mitch Talbot is pulled due to an injury in the first inning Sunday against the Minnesota Twins, with home plate umpire Tony Randazzo waving in reliever Justin Masterson. But the Twins used a five-run outburst to eventually coast to a 6-2 victory at Progressive Field.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Justin Masterson was supposed to finish the season as a late-inning reliever for the Indians because of a club-imposed innings limit.
But an injury to starter Mitch Talbot on Sunday changed those plans.
Masterson became an early-inning reliever when Talbot exited after three batters. Masterson helped shorten the afternoon for the Tribe with a superb performance, but he could only do so much.
The Twins, helped by a Luis Valbuena error in a five-run first inning, prevailed, 6-2, at Progressive Field.
Minnesota (85-58) won the final two of a three-game series to remain comfortably in front of the White Sox in the AL Central. Twins designated hitter Jim Thome went 1-for-4 with an RBI and run, but his homer streak ended at four games.
The Tribe slipped to 58-85.
Talbot struggled to get his right shoulder loose in warmups. After Denard Span led off with a walk on five pitches, Indians manager Manny Acta and assistant athletic trainer Rick Jameyson visited the mound.
"He just didn't look right to me," Acta said. "The ball wasn't coming out of his hand right."
Talbot talked Acta into letting him remain in the game.
"I wanted to see if I could get it to fire for me," he said.
With Orlando Hudson batting, Span took off for second. Catcher Chris Gimenez threw a strike, but Span kicked the ball out of shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera's glove during the slide. Cabrera winced and shook the hand for several seconds. He had an ice bag on his left wrist in the postgame clubhouse.
Hudson singled to second. After Joe Mauer drove in Span with a single, Acta and head athletic trainer Lonnie Soloff visited the mound. There would be no lobbying.
"This guy's a battler, and he was close to fighting me for taking him out," Acta said of Talbot. "He wanted to pitch through it. He's in his first major-league season, he's done a really good job for us, and he's up there in innings. We wanted to be on the cautious side."
Talbot, listed as day-to-day because of shoulder inflammation, is scheduled for an MRI scan Monday.
"None of us is really worried about the MRI showing anything but inflammation," Talbot said. "I'm not concerned about it."
Talbot is 9-12 with a 4.58 ERA in 26 starts. He was on the disabled list in late July and early August because of a back strain.
Masterson made his first relief appearance this season after 28 starts, during which he went 6-12 with a 4.88 ERA in 166 innings. The bosses had decided Masterson would pitch the last several weeks out of the bullpen to keep his innings from exceeding 180. He worked 129 1/3 innings in 2009 as a starter and reliever for the Red Sox and Indians.
"When they told me to get ready, I said, 'That's not what we talked about -- we talked about one inning, maybe two, late in games,'" Masterson said with a chuckle. "I was glad to do it, though."
The first batter Masterson faced, Jason Kubel, flied out. Michael Cuddyer singled to load the bases. Thome grounded to second for what should have been a routine double play. Instead, for reasons known only to Valbuena, he hurried his turn toward second and fumbled the ball in the process. Credit Thome with an RBI on the fielder's choice/error.
"We continue to struggle offensively, but I think the story was the first inning, not being able to stop the bleeding with that double-play ball," Acta said. "We pretty much shot ourselves in the foot by giving them those two extra outs. When you're playing a good team, you can't be giving it extra outs."
Valbuena was nowhere to be found in the postgame clubhouse.
Masterson's second pitch to Delmon Young skipped to the backstop, enabling Mauer to score for a 3-0 lead. Young hit a sacrifice fly to right.
As Danny Valencia singled to center, the speed-challenged Thome had every intention of stopping at third. Coach Scott Ullger nonetheless pinwheeled him. Thome restarted the engine and barely beat Michael Brantley's throw to make it 5-0.
Valbuena, of all people, provided the Tribe offense with a two-run double in the second. He finished 1-for-3, improving his average to .179 in 218 at-bats of 75 games. The glove has not been much better.
Minnesota stretched the advantage to 6-2 in the sixth. Kubel led off with a double -- snapping a streak of 13 retired by Masterson. Kubel scored on Cuddyer's single.
Jensen Lewis replaced Masterson to begin the eighth. Masterson gave up three runs (one earned) on five hits in seven innings -- the Tribe's longest relief appearance since Jake Westbrook went seven against the Tigers on April 19, 2004.
"Justin did a tremendous job to get us out of the first, and after that, he was terrific," Acta said. "They didn't take many good swings against him."
Masterson's previous appearance was a quality start and victory Sept. 7 against the Angels in Anaheim, Calif.
"This was an emergency situation, and he was the right guy for it," Acta said.
Masterson walked none and struck out six. He threw 64 of 98 pitches for strikes.
"It was fun," he said. "Things worked out pretty well, for the most part. I did all I could in that spot. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for us in the end."
Entering Sunday, Indians starters had logged at least five innings in 18 consecutive games.