Game 146: Tigers 5, Indians 3

Boxscore

Brooks Baseball PitchFX - Justin Masterson

For the first six innings of the game, the only offense the Indians could manage was a Shin-Soo Choo hit by pitch, and he was quickly erased in on a double play. It took the Indians 6 innings and one out for the Indians to finally get a hit off Detroit starter Anibal Sanchez, and as usually seems to happened after no-hitters get broken, the Indians scored a couple runs.

The hit that broke up the no-hitter was a Carlos Santana line-drive triple off the right-center field wall. Russ Canzler drove Santana home with a double (ending the shutout), and Canzler scored on a Lonnie Chisenhall single.

Of course all this had happened after the Indians fell behind 5-0. Justin Masterson had given up four of the five runs in an outing representative of his season. Of the first six outs he recorded in the game, all six came via the strikeout. But in between those strikeouts, he allowed two hits, two walks, and two runs, and have to throw a lot of pitches in the process. Lonnie Chisenhall's error in the first didn't help things, especially when Masterson was allowing that many base runners to begin with.

There was some good things that happened towards the end of the game. Cody Allen and Scott Barnes pitched very effectively in relief. Allen struck out all five batters that he faced, and Barnes retired the Tigers in order in the top of the ninth. Barnes had a lot of trouble the last time he was in Cleveland, but it seems now that he's starting to adjust to the bullpen. He could become Cleveland's top left-handed reliever next year, especially given how Tony Sipp continues to struggle.

Source: FanGraphs