Justin Masterson Gets First Win Of Season

The Indians took the field in Chicago last night in the first game of a three-game set against the White Sox. Prior to last night’s start, Masterson had lost 17 straight starts and had not won a game since last August. While pressure has certainly been mounting on the lynchpin of the Victor Martinez trade, results have been lacking.

Masterson has certainly been well-aware of the lack of productivity. While the Indians’ offense hasn’t always been the friendliest for him, the lack of results in the W column have certainly been noticed.

Masterson’s line for the night was as follows: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 6 BB, 1 K, 1 HR on 108 pitches. While not the prettiest line, Masterson managed to keep the damage light, only giving up a run on a home run by Hanley Alexei Ramirez in the fourth.

In terms of the Indians offense, well they showed up and produced some runs just in the knick of time to get Masterson the win. While Masterson was still the pitcher of record in the top of the 6th, the Tribe went ahead 4-1 in the top of the sixth, powered by a two-run double by Jhonny Peralta and a pair of hits from Shelly Duncan and Luis Valbuena.

The Tribe bats weren’t done at this point, adding two runs on another double by Jhonny in the 7th and four runs in the 8th off an Austin Kearns home run and a Trevor Crowe triple.

The Indians’ bullpen performed solidly, with recent callup Frank Herrmann making his major league debut with 1.1 scoreless innings (season ERA = 0.00!!!!!!), and Jensen Lewis and Raffy Perez finishing up the game.

For those of you wondering, the Indians released one of the most interesting press released about the win last night that I’ve ever seen. It read:

BEAT THE STREAK: RHP JUSTIN MASTERSON still carries a personal 11-game losing streak after Sunday’s blown save at NYY covering his last 7 starts of the 2009 season from August 25^th on and first 10 starts of 2010…Indians scored 39 runs over those 17 starts for Justin…. Last win came August 20, 2009 vs. the LA Angels in Progressive Field… In Indians history, only four other pitchers have had losing streaks of at least 11 games: Guy Morton (13, 1914), Rod Nichols (13, 1989–91), Steve Hargan (11, 1971–72) & Fausto Carmona (11, 2006-07)… He is T4th in the AL in losses while LHP DAVID HUFF is T1st with 6 losses.

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(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)