Indians 3, Blue Jays 0: Ubaldo to the rescue!

In many ways, Indians starting pitcher Ubaldo Jiménez is the poster boy for his team: Just when you are ready to write him off, he comes back strong and with a vengeance. Not to say I have written this team off after losing three of four to Detroit, especially not when they started the day just three and half games out of first, but when “Team Streak” heads south, hide the women and children. The same thing goes for Jiménez.

The last time we saw Ubaldo, he was blowing a 5-0 lead in Kansas City, walking his way into trouble before giving up a grand slam to Alex Gordon. It seemed par for the course. He exited before he could record an out in the sixth.”They say in baseball, you have to forget quick,” Jiménez said. “I had to forget about what happened in my last start and get ready for this one.”

It had been six starts since Jiménez pitched six innings or more. But last night, with a tired bullpen (I feel like I write this every day) needing some length out of its starter, Ubaldo gave his team six shutout innings. Naturally, he didn’t make it easy on himself. 

In case you didn’t know, The Big U likes to put runners on base from time to time. Last night was no different. In each of his six innings, at least one Blue Jay reached base, and there were some deep fly balls caught at the wall mixed in. But in each situation, Jiménez managed to work his way out of the jam. In the second, left fielder Michael Brantley appeared to lose a line drive in the lights from Miacer Izturis that wound up being a double. Ubaldo then went full count on each of the next three batters. He sandwiched a walk to J.P. Arencibia in between outs, the biggest being a K of Emilio Bonafacio to end the inning.

The fourth was where it looked like Toronto was going to get to him. Colby Rasmus doubled and Izturis singled to put runners on the corners with nobody out. However, Ubaldo somehow managed to come through unscathed. Rajai Davis hit a sharp comebacker right to him. Jiménez looked Rasmus back to third and fired a strike to second for the first out. He came back with a huge strikeout of Arencibia before getting Bonafacio to fly out to deep right.

“He did a good job. There was some traffic for the better part of the night,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “He pitched around some things. He never let it spiral or get out of hand. … He pitched himself back into counts when he needed to. He had good life on his fastball. There was a lot of things to like.”

The sixth inning was Ubaldo’s only 1-2-3 frame of the night. He departed to a standing ovation.

“It’s probably been not as consistent as I probably would want it to,” Jiménez said. “But I’ve been able to go out there and compete with whatever I have every five days. I wish I could be able to go more innings. … That hasn’t been the case. But I’ve been able to compete.”

He also left the game with a 2-0 lead thanks to the middle of the Indians order.

Toronto starter Josh Johnson retired the first 10 Indians he faced before walking Asdrubal Cabrera. Jason Kipnis then got the first hit off of Johnson, a sharp single up the middle. Nick Swisher followed with the first run scoring hit of the night with a single of his own to right, scoring a sliding Cabrera. Michael Brantley, the team’s leader with a .387 average with runners in scoring position, kept the line moving with an RBI single of his own that scored Kipnis.

“I thought Josh was great. That one inning he gave up those two runs, but that’s what we look for out of him,” Toronto manager John Gibbons said. “He pitched a heck of a ballgame, we just didn’t get any run support.”

Ubaldo’s night was done after six innings and 107 pitches. Despite his 1-2-3 sixth, Francona knew to get out while the gettin’ was still good.

“In a perfect world, that gets better and he goes seven instead of six,” Francona said. “And I think sometimes, it’s part of why nobody seems to get a beat on him either. I mean, he pitches backwards. He’s got some deception. They don’t really ever hone in on him.”

Cody Allen, your new seventh inning set up man, pitched a scoreless inning. Joe Smith, now slotted in the eighth, did the same, setting the stage for closer Chris Perez.

The offense would add a key insurance run in the bottom of the eighth. Drew Stubbs opened with a double, was bunted over by Michael Bourn, and brought in on a Cabrera sacrifice fly.

Where was that a night before, Tito?

So onto the ninth we went. Perez has been a new man since coming off of the Disabled List. Working his fourth consecutive day, CP provided a little drama by giving up back to back one out singles to Izturis and Davis. But he came through to close out his 10th save by striking out Arencibia and getting pinch hitter Josh Thole to line out to Cabrera. Perez has not allowed an earned run in his seven post DL appearances.

The offense had just four hits, three of them coming in the two-run fourth, but it was more than enough.

“We didn’t do a lot offensively, but we played a crisp game,” Francona said. “Again, it starts with pitching. Even though we started late, that’s one of the quicker games we’ve played. We turned some double plays. … That was a good bounce-back game for us.”

Even better, the Tigers with their ace Justin Verlander on the mound, got smoked by the last place Chicago White Sox 11-4 and the Indians were able to gain a game back in the standings.

The game was delayed 35 minutes because of rain and they managed to get it in during a dry window. Crazy storms blew through Cleveland overnight. Tonight’s game will feature Justin Masterson (10-7, 3.78 ERA) looking to bounce back after Friday’s loss to the Tigers. He will face ex-Indian reliever Esmil Rogers (3-4, 3.84 ERA) who has become a solid starter for Toronto.

(photo via Scott Shaw/Plain Dealer)