For the first time through the lineup, Justin Masterson appeared to have a clear game plan - to work the Orioles seven left handed hitters away. Brian Roberts started off by dinking a single into left and the rest of the lineup played into Masterson’s hands, making weak contact, mostly to the right side on the ground and Masterson was cruising through three innings. The second time through the lineup, Masterson’s outside pitches seemed to either miss the plate, catch too much of the plate, or get taken the other way by Baltimore hitters. Next thing you knew, the Orioles plated four runs in the inning. It could have been worse if not for an amazing play by Asdrubal on a hard shot up the middle by Felix Pie that bounced off of Masterson’s foot and caromed towards a charging Cabrera, who stuck his bare hand out as he slid the other direction to a stop and held the runner at third before throwing out Pie from his butt, seemingly all in one motion.
For the first time through the lineup, Jake Arrieta appeared to have a clear game plan - to throw lots of strikes to the Indians hitters. Arrieta threw four pitches for balls to the Indians first nine hitters. Arrieta was cruising through three innings. The second time through Michael Brantley, Arrieta threw four pitches for balls. After a throwing error and an Asdrubal Cabrera single, the Indians plated a run. After the Orioles big inning, the Indians hitters had a better read on Arrieta’s offerings and started smacking low liners around the field and ignoring pitches that were missing the zone. Next thing you knew, the Indians plated five runs in the inning. It could have been worse if not for a perfectly executed relay after the 2-RBI Shin-Soo Choo double to nail Cabrera at the plate to end the inning.
After the big inning, Masterson continued to labor, actually throwing more pitches in the 5th than he did in the 4th by the time he faced Pie again, who challenged Asdrubal to figure out a way to catch his 3-run home run. Masterson left the game after 5 with the Indians trailing 7-6.
After the big inning, Arrieta re-adjusted, quickly working a 1-2-3 inning. The Indians would continue to make some solid contact off the Orioles starter, not finding the holes they did in their 5-run inning. Arrieta, going right at the Indians would last six innings before giving way to the Baltimore pen to close out the last three.
Tony Sipp worked the sixth inning, giving up a line drive home run to Corey "Yeah That One" Patterson. Frank Herrmann worked a boring 7th inning and then gave up the cycle to the first four men he faced in the 8th on six lousy pitches. Rule 5 would come in to give up yet another 3-run bomb to Luke Scott, who in one fell swoop would show Indians fans what might have been if the Tribe had only kept him for the last seven years and Arizona fans what might have been had they only traded Dan Haren sooner to open up a roster spot - two things that had about the same likelihood of happening.
Michael Brantley would hit his second homerun in junk time off of somebody named Armando Gabino to finish the scoring. Luis Valbuena got the start at third, committing an error on a hot shot right at him. Jordan Brown hit two doubles that landed in front of outfielders and never reached the wall and weren’t hit nearly as hard as two Valbuena outfield line-outs.