This evening wasn't a very good night in the "looking to the future" phase of the Cleveland Indians season. David Huff, the top pitching prospect for the franchise coming into this season has been trying to get some traction at the major league level. Tonight didn't help that. Huff gave up eleven hits and seven runs in less than five innings. He was throwing strikes, but his pitches were getting pounded. Five of those hits were of the extra-base variety, and none of those extra-base hits were cheap ones. Meanwhile, Jensen Lewis, former, and hopefully future, Tribe relief stud, gave up a no-doubt homer on his first pitch. He gave up another run and a few more hits, eventually struggling through four outs.
If it isn't clear, the Indians weren't winning after these two efforts. They were actually down 9-0, as the offense hadn't put together more than a few hits at a time. Peralta had a couple of nice hits, Travis Hafner proved he continues to own Scott Baker, but that was about it offensively. Depending on your view, Andy Marte's night might have been positive, as he put together a few noticeably good ABs (with a hit and walk to show for it).
On the brighter side, Chris Perez and Tony Sipp each put together perfect innings, recording a strikeout each. Perez is still struggling to find the strike zone on his pitches, but his pitches seem to be pretty high up the nasty scale. A Peralta double followed by a Hafner single in the ninth helped prevent a shutout at the hands of the Twins.
Next up: Laffey vs. Liriano, 7:05 pm