Well we may not know yet if the major league roster can make late inning comebacks but the young bucks for the Indians (with invitees) have roared back twice in two days. Nice to watch but relatively unimportant in the big scheme of things.
More importantly Masterson was pelted with rocket shots in the first inning but recovered nicely. Analyzing his performance with more aplomb reveals a first inning of misplaced fastballs mixed with nothing off speed. From the second inning on he had better command and enough off speed to keep the same hitters off balance that rocked him in the first. I wondered if the plan was to only bring the heat in inning one and throw more off speed later. But it was clear manager Francona had a lot to say to him after that inning. Terry looked to be giving positive advice and support. Maybe what he said worked. In any case, Masterson saved the outing with his performance after the first.
Cleveland winners today:
Tyler Naquin who ran like a race horse with blinders on out of the batters box to leg out a bouncer that had already safely deflected off the shortstops glove into left field. Nice job impressing the fans and the manager with that one!
Brian Shaw with two solid innings out of the pen to end the game in a tie. He looked good doing it as well with a good fastball and timely off speed pitches.
Losers:
Matt Caps who simply doesn’t look ready coming back from shoulder problems. Stuff is there pretty much but command is not. I would love to hide him in the minors for a month or so because I think he could help us as his command sharpens.