Indians 2, Athletics 0: It took a while, but it was worth the wait

To borrow a phrase from the great George Costanza, I stayed up late to watch the Tribe start their season and “yada yada, I am very tired today.” It rained all day in Oakland and getting this game in looked bleak most of the day. But the baseball Gods usually arrive on Opening Day. They did, the sun came out, and the Tribe’s 2014 debut started right on time.

I’m sure many of you were sleeping, and if you weren’t, the Indians offense with runners on base may have put you there. But in the end, it felt like another nail-biter 2013 stretch drive game where the pitching gave them a chance to win and the bats did just enough late to pull out a victory.

The first game of the each season is always going to see two teams trot their best starter out to the mound. The A’s sent 24-year-old stud Sonny Gray out to square off with Cleveland’s Justin Masterson, making his third consecutive Opening Day start. With free agency pending, it could be the last opener Masterson starts in a Tribe uniform. Lets hope not. The way he pitched last night had all the makings of an ace. We’ve seen this kind of dominating performance out of Justin before, but to fire out of the gates like this was very encouraging.

In seven stellar innings, Oakland could muster little against Masterson and his array of pitches. He had it all working last night. You usually know how things are going to go with Justin judging by his first couple of innings. When his command is there, he is extremely tough to beat.

Oakland really only had one shot against Masterson, which came in the sixth. Eric Sogard led off with a walk and was sacrificed over to second by Coco Crisp. Josh Donaldson singled up the middle, moving Sogard 90 feet away from scoring. After a wild pitch put two in scoring position with one out, Jed Lowrie smashed a ball up the middle which Masterson knocked down, freezing both runners and getting the key second out. The A’s threat ended with Brandon Moss’s fly out to center.

Masterson’s line: seven innings, zero runs, three hits, one walk, and four strikeouts on 92 pitches. “The ball was coming out nice and easy and I was pounding the strike zone pretty good,” said Masterson. “I don’t care if i throw 35 no-decisions as long as we get the win.”

At the time the game headed to the seventh in a scoreless tie. It should never have been that way.

We saw this many times last summer. The most recent was in the Wild Card playoff game where the Indians spent the night stranding runners in front of 40,000 plus. Let us count the ways. Nyjer Morgan, filling in for the injured Michael Bourn, took a four pitch walk in his first appearance and an Indian. Nick Swisher followed up with a walk of his own. The tone was set early against Gray — make the kid work. The table was set for the middle of the Wahoo order, but Jason Kipnis struck out, failing to move the runners up. Third baseman Carlos Santana grounded into a fielder choice which preceded Michael Brantley’s inning ending ground out.

OK, no problem, there were still eight more chances to score.

The fourth inning brought a golden opportunity. Santana fell behind 0-2 before working a leadoff walk. Brantley then smoked a ball into the corner in right for a double. Now the Tribe was in business with second and third and nobody out. Ryan Raburn stepped to the plate and struck out on a nasty breaking pitch from Gray. Next was Asdrubal Cabrera. As usual, Cabrera swung at the first pitch, lacing a grounder back up the box. Gray snagged it and looked up to see Santana way off the bag at third in no man’s land. He was nailed at the plate. The newly acquired David Murphy had his big chance to make a great first impression, and weakly grounded out to second.

Sigh.

It wouldn’t stop there though. An inning later, Yan Gomes opened the inning with a single. Morgan moved him over to second with a bunt (looked like he was going on his own for a drag base hit). But Gomes would be stranded after Gray got Swisher looking and Kipnis on a ground ball. Just when you thought you couldn’t get more frustrated with the offense, more disaster struck. Gray came out for the sixth and immediately got Santana to pop out. Brantley would smoke another double to the gap in right center, keeping up the torrid pace he began in Arizona. Raburn followed by taking Gray the other way for a single, but Brantley had to be held at third.

Here was another spot for Asdrubal. Once again he showed zero patience against the tiring Gray and swung at the first pitch. The line shot was headed towards a double play ball up the middle, but Gray knocked it down and threw home to get Brantley. Catcher John Jaso was blocking the plate awaiting the throw. Manager Terry Francona came out of the dugout to get an interpretation of the new rule which states a catcher cannot block the plate without having possession of the ball. Home plate Mike Winters looked at a replay to make sure the correct call was made, which it indeed was.

“I just wanted to confirm what I saw on the field that the catcher did not block the plate unnecessarily,” said Winters. “He was in fair territory. He gave the runner plenty of plate to go to, and so I just wanted to be sure.”

In the meantime, it was the second time an Indian was thrown out at home. They had one more shot with Murphy, but he K’d on three pitches.

Ugh.

“Sonny Gray did a great job for them tonight getting out of some jams,” Swisher said. “I felt like we had guys in scoring position a lot tonight. We really just didn’t do a good job of getting runs in. But, hey, better late than never, right?”

This game remained scoreless into the ninth with a little help from more bad base running. This time it came from the home team. After the Indians couldn’t come close to scoring against relievers Luke Gregorson and Sean Doolittle, the A’s took their shot against Tribe reliever Marc Rzepcysnki. Daric Barton greeted him with a leadoff single. Pinch hitter Nick Punto came to the plate in an obvious bunt situation. The veteran utility man failed to do his job and popped a shallow fly ball to right. With the top of the Oakland order coming up, Francona called for right-hander Cody Allen.

One of the Tribe’s two top set up men, Allen will be called upon in big spots all year. He has deadly stuff, but last night his fastball looked dead straight. Crisp, in a quality at-bat, worked a walk, putting two on with one out for the All-Star Donaldson. On a 2-2 pitch, Cody left one up and Donaldson crushed one to deep center which looked like a three-run homer off the bat. Morgan turned his back to the plate to play the ball off the wall in center and it luckily bounced right to him. For some strange reason, Barton didn’t go half way, instead going back to second to tag up on a ball Morgan was not going to catch. Because of the gigantic base running blunder, all Donaldson ended up with was a long single.

“I thought it was off the suites,” Donaldson said. “I’m not frustrated with Barton. I was more frustrated it didn’t get out. It’s one of those things, you hit the ball probably as good as I can, you want to see the results of that. We make mistakes in this game.”

Allen was given another life and he took advantage of it. With the bases loaded and one out, he came back to K Lowrie with his breaking stuff. The last chance was Moss, but Allen induced a ground out to first. The crisis was averted. It seemed as though nobody wanted to win this game.

The Houdini act gave the Indians one last chance to win this one in regulation. Oakland closer Jim Johnson came on in a tie game to pitch the ninth. Everyone’s favorite move here in Cleveland — the closer in a non-save situation! Johnson is the 2014 version of Troy Percival to the Indians. When they see him, they turn into sharks smelling blood in the water. Cabrera watched the first three pitches sail wide of the zone before eventually walking on five pitches. Murphy, who looked so bad in his previous three at-bats, singled to right. Gomes fell behind in the count 0-2 and then was drilled above the elbow to load the bases with nobody out and it was Tony Plush time.

Morgan took Johnson’s first pitch to center field, deep enough for an easy sacrifice fly, putting the Tribe on top 1-0. Swisher followed with a sharp single up the middle, giving new closer John Axford the all important insurance run.

Johnson is now 0-6 with a 6.61 ERA and a 2,14 WHIP in 16.1 innings career against the Tribe.

The Axe Man was a signing that many questioned in the winter. He was coming off of a year where he was deposed as closer in Milwaukee in late April and was eventually dealt to St. Louis to be a middle reliever. This is his second chance here in Cleveland and he plans to make the most of it. He fit in all too perfectly as a Tribe closer as he walked two in the bottom of the ninth before eventually getting out unscathed for his first save, preserving an Indians 2-0 win. Bob Wickman, Joe Borowski, and Chris Perez would have been proud.

“Everything seems a little bigger, because it’s the first game,” Francona said. “It’s hard to get past that, but it is only one game. But, heck yeah, we showed up this morning to win and we did. Now, we get to show up tomorrow and see if we can do it again.”

And do it again we will tonight at 10:05 EST with Corey Kluber taking on old friend Scott Kazmir. I am exhausted this morning, but it was all worth it in the end. Another game, another close Tribe win. I will take it.

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(AP Photo/Ben Margot)