Athletics lead Indians, 3-0, through six innings tonight at Progressive Field.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- This is a daily briefing of the Indians' 2010 regular season. The Tribe plays host to the Athletics tonight in the first of a three-game series at Progressive Field.
Pitching matchup: Indians RHP Mitch Talbot (8-6, 3.88 ERA) vs. Athletics LHP Gio Gonzalez (6-5, 3.74).
In-game updates:
The Athletics led the Indians, 3-0, through six innings.
Gonzalez gave up four hits and walked four.
The Tribe's only hit through five was an infield single by Jayson Nix in the fourth. Third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff dived to his left to smother Nix's sharp grounder, hopped to his feet and threw wide of first. Daric Barton was forced to leave the bag to catch it. An on-target throw would have gotten Nix, but the effort Kouzmanoff had made to stop the ball gave official scorer Chuck Murr the leeway to rule hit.
Oakland took the lead in the first.
Former Indian Coco Crisp led off with a seemingly innocuous grounder to short. Jason Donald mishandled it.
Daric Barton singled, Crisp advancing to second. Former Indians prospect Kevin Kouzmanoff struck out swinging at a 76-mph pitch.
Kurt Suzuki ripped a one-hopper up the middle, where Donald laid out to snare the ball and flip to second baseman Jayson Nix. Suzuki barely beat the relay.
Talbot walked Ryan Sweeney to load the bases and Jack Cust to drive in a run. The fourth ball to Cust just missed off the outside corner.
Pitching coach Tim Belcher visited the mound. Talbot had thrown 27 pitches.
Talbot bowed his neck and retired Mark Ellis on a foul fly to right, Shin-Soo Choo doing a good job of getting to the spot and setting himself at the railing.
Gonzalez did not allow a hit. He walked four, including back-to-back batters in the second and third. In the second, the wildness happened with two outs. Mike Redmond flied out. In the third, it happened with one out. Carlos Santana struck out looking and Austin Kearns flied out.
The Athletics knocked out Talbot in the sixth.
With one out, Suzuki had an infield single to third. An exceptional play was required by Jhonny Peralta.
Suzuki moved to second on Sweeney's single. Cust walked for the third time, the fourth ball coming on Talbot's 99th pitch.
Ellis made him pay on No. 100, lining a two-run double to left-center for a 3-0 cushion. Talbot's fastball veered into Ellis's swing plane.
Tony Sipp relieved and eventually escaped a bases-loaded jam with a strikeout.
In the Tribe's half of the sixth, Jhonny Peralta, Matt LaPorta and Jayson Nix singled with two outs to load the bases. Redmond grounded out to right field.
Yes, Redmond grounded to right. Sweeney made the one-hop pick and threw out Redmond by a step.
Pregame notes:
Indians shortstop Jason Donald blamed himself for hurting Justin Masterson's chances for a shutout Thursday afternoon against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Indians won, 6-1, to complete a four-game sweep. Masterson pitched 8 1/3 innings to earn the victory. Nobody in Tribe quarters was complaining, but Donald felt bad.
With one out and Jose Bautista on second in a 6-0 game, Adam Lind grounded to Donald. Instead of making the routine play at first for the second out, Donald threw to third baseman Andy Marte. Bautista easily beat the tag.
Aaron Hill followed with an RBI single. Lyle Overbay singled, sending Masterson to the dugout. Frank Herrmann relieved and got Jose Molina to ground into a double play.
"I made a dumb play,'' Donald said Friday afternoon. "I was thinking first all the way, then I saw him cross my sight and went to throw it over there. It was a lapse in judgment. I'm going to learn from it and move on.''
Donald, who will play in his 38th major-league game tonight against Oakland, said he spoke with Masterson in the aftermath.
"I apologized to him because I thought I cost him the shutout,'' Donald said. "I told him: 'My bad -- dumb decision.' He was great about it. He said I didn't cost him the shutout. He said it didn't matter. But I think that's just Justin being a nice guy.''
Indians manager Manny Acta is confident Donald will be better for the experience.
"He made a mistake,'' Acta said. "He understands. We're up by six runs, there's already one out, you get the second out at first base. Don't take any chances.''
Cab fare: Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera fielded grounders effortlessly and did some light sprinting in the afternoon. Cabrera has been on the disabled list since May 18 because of a fractured left forearm. He underwent surgery May 19.
Acta said Cabrera has begun taking "dry'' swings and likely will travel to St. Petersburg, Fla., when the Indians play the Tampa Bay Rays next Thursday through Sunday.
"He will intensify his workouts,'' Acta said. "From there, we'll look into rehab.''
He's back: Catcher Mike Redmond started at catcher and batted eighth. Carlos Santana was the designated hitter and batted in his customary third spot.
Santana, who debuted with the Indians on June 11, made his previous 18 major-league starts at catcher.
Acta said he wanted to get Redmond some playing time and to give Travis Hafner a rest against a tough lefty. Gonzalez entered the night having held lefties to a .140 average (12-for-86).
Redmond started for the first time since June 19 at Pittsburgh. He appeared in his third game since June 9.
"Manny told me a couple of days ago that I'd be playing Friday,'' Redmond said. "I'm ready no matter what. I've been doing this for 13 years. I've gone 20 days without playing. I've done pretty much everything.''
Braden out: Athletics lefty Dallas Braden, who pitched a perfect game against Tampa Bay on May 9, will miss his scheduled start against the Tribe on Saturday because of elbow tendinitis. He also was scratched last Tuesday in Baltimore.
Right-hander Clayton Mortensen, 10-2 with a 3.58 ERA at Class AAA Sacramento, replaces Braden.
To a tee: Santana and center fielder Trevor Crowe, under the tutelage of hitting coach Jon Nunnally, hit balls off the tee before batting practice. Nunnally had them focused on getting the hands through the zone.
Dunk tank: Shelley Duncan all but called the Netherlands' upset of Brazil in the World Cup today. On Thursday, he said that he wanted to pick Brazil to win it all but really liked the way the Netherlands was playing.
Netherlands won, 2-1.
"When the tournament started and I filled out my bracket, I picked Brazil to win it all,'' said Duncan, the Tribe's World Cup expert. "But when I watched the group-play games and saw Netherlands, I realized they're very good. They don't have the big-name players Brazil has, but their defense is awesome, they're really organized and they find ways to win. I figured it would be really hard for Brazil to beat them.''
Duncan said he considers Brazil/Netherlands and Argentina/Germany as the World Cup semifinals. He has Argentina winning the whole thing.
Chess smack: Travis Hafner said he is not sure when he will again face off against Duncan in chess. Hafner, a poor man's Garry Kasparov in the Tribe clubhouse, suffered what he called a "one-in-a-million'' loss to Duncan earlier this week.
"We probably won't be playing for a while,'' Hafner said. "I want to let him enjoy that victory as long as he can, so he can build up his confidence.''
Duncan said: "The longer he waits, the more I practice I get, and the worse he's going to feel when I beat him again.''
Stat of the day: Much-maligned lefty reliever Rafael Perez gave up zero earned runs (one run) in 13 appearances in June covering 10 2/3 innings.
Lineups:
Athletics (39-41) -- 1. Coco Crisp cf; 2. Daric Barton 1b; 3. Kevin Kouzmanoff 3b; 4. Kurt Suzuki c; 5. Ryan Sweeney rf; 6. Jack Cust dh; 7. Mark Ellis 2b; 8. Gabe Gross lf; 9. Cliff Pennington ss; and Gonzalez.
Indians (31-47) -- 1. Trevor Crowe cf; 2. Shin-Soo Choo rf; 3. Carlos Santana dh; 4. Austin Kearns lf; 5. Jhonny Peralta 3b; 6. Matt LaPorta 1b; 7. Jayson Nix 2b; 8. Mike Redmond c; 9. Jason Donald ss; and Talbot.
Umpires: P -- Rob Drake; 1b -- Joe West; 2b -- Angel Hernandez; 3b -- Paul Schrieber.