Indians 6, White Sox 2: How to Not Let Your Bullpen Lose The Game

For the second night in a row, the Indians used a complete game victory to beat a American League opponent. Never thought I would write that this season. This time, number five starter Mitch Talbot was the star as the Tribe managed to yet again avoided the bullpen for an entire nine innings.

Thanks to a timely two-run homer by Luis Valbuena and some costly Chicago errors, it’s now two-game winnings streak for the Indians. Talbot did exactly what David Huff managed the other night, limiting his mistakes while allowing just two runs in nine efficient innings. The two back-to-back complete games were the first for Cleveland since Chad Ogea and Charles Nagy did the same thing in September 1996.

It was also the first win of Talbot’s brief MLB career (23.2 innings pitched). The former Arizona Diamondback allowed only six hits and one home run while striking out six and walking none. His 17 ground ball outs were the difference and the 26-year-old actually retired 21 of the final 23 batters of the game.

The NBA Playoffs start today so I won’t spend too much time on this post here. Let’s tackle the rest of the game in bullet form:

• The 1-5 hitters in the Cleveland lineup were a combined 3-for-16 in this game. Sure the four walks were nice, but in the end, this win was because of Talbot and the bottom half of the lineup. Definite credit goes to Valbuena and Lou Marson for driving home the eventual winning runs in this contest.
• That said, I’m not sold on Austin Kearns. I have an old Cincinnati Reds t-shirt of his from probably six years ago, but it’s still surprising to see that .333 average and .844 OPS next to his name in the box score. Give it some time as I’m sure he will eventually move back toward his career marks of .256 and .780.
• Odd stat of the night: no Chicago hitter saw more than 16 pitches on the night. No hitter averaged even five pitches per plate appearance either. Both Choo and Hafner saw 20+ pitches, but this just goes to show how effective Talbot was out there.
• A very pedestrian start by Mark Buehrle against the Indians. For as good of a career he has had overall, Buehrle is actually quite average against Cleveland.  He is now 12-16 with a 4.56 ERA in 39 career appearances as the Tribe has a near .800 OPS.
• Jake Westbrook on the hill today for the Tribe starting at 4:15 pm against Jake Peavy. Should be interesting to see those two battle for viewer ratings with the Cavs game starting at 3:00 pm.  Remember to head over to the Prog after the Q for that $5 special.

(Photo above via Chuck Crow/Cleveland Plain Dealer)