Starting pitching continues to carry the Indians during the team's winning streak, which was extended to eight games Monday night with a 4-0 victory over the Angels.
Starter Mitch Talbot and reliever Vinnie Pestano combined on a five-hit shutout.
After Cleveland's starters were roughed up in the first two games of the season, the Indians have won their next eight games. During the streak, Indians starters have a 2.40 ERA, and the team has allowed one or no runs in five of the eight games.
Monday night's winning pitcher was Talbot. He was a 10-game winner on the staff last year as a rookie, but he began this season as the No. 5 man in the rotation. Surprisingly, the only member in the rotation who has not won a game during the streak is No. 1 starter Fausto Carmona.
Justin Masterson and Josh Tomlin have each won two games during the streak. Carlos Carrasco has won one game in the streak, and Talbot's win Monday was his first. The other two wins during the streak belong to reliever Rafael Perez.
Entering the season, the consistency of the rotation was one of the biggest question marks facing the Indians. With the exception of Carmona, the other four starting pitchers are in either their first or second full seasons in a major league rotation, but so far the unit has gone from being a question mark to a strength.
NOTES, QUOTES
--SS Asdrubal Cabrera, named earlier in the day as the co-AL Player of the Week, hit a home run in the first inning of Monday's game with the Angels. It marked the third time in four games on the current road trip that Cabrera has homered in the first inning. His home run Monday was his fourth of the year, one more than his total for the entire 2010 season.
--1B Matt LaPorta, who is being counted on as a run-producer this year, was hitting .167 after the Indians' first three games this season. Since then, however, LaPorta is hitting .294 with two home runs and five RBI in 17 at-bats. That includes a three-run homer Monday night in the Indians' 4-0 win over the Angels.
--RHP Chris Perez and LHP Tony Sipp are the first Indians relievers to start a season with five consecutive scoreless outings of one or more innings each since Paul Shuey in 2000.
--OF Grady Sizemore was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI on Monday for Class AA Akron as he continues his rehab assignment. Sizemore is coming back from microfracture surgery on his left knee in June of last year. Sizemore is 5-for-11 (.455) through three games with Akron.
--RHP Joe Smith, in a rehab appearance for Class AA Akron on Monday, pitched two-thirds of an inning, giving up one run on one hit and two walks. Smith is on the disabled list due to a strained abdominal muscle.
BY THE NUMBERS: .186 -- Batting average of opposing batters vs. Indians relief pitchers in the team's first 10 games this season.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "He's putting a good swing on the ball, and they're going out." -- Manager Manny Acta, on SS Asdrubal Cabrera, who has four home runs this season, including three in the Indians' last four games.
ROSTER REPORT
MEDICAL WATCH:
--RHP Joe Smith (strained abdominal muscle) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 22. He began a rehab assignment with Class AA Akron on April 7.
--CF Grady Sizemore (left knee surgery in June 2010) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 29. He began a rehab assignment with Class AA Akron on April 7.
--3B Jason Donald (broken left hand) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 22. He began a rehab assignment with Class AA Akron on April 10, and he likely will miss the season's first month.
--OF Trevor Crowe (right shoulder surgery in March 2011) went on the 60-day disabled list March 30. He will be out until at least late July.
ROTATION:
• RHP Fausto Carmona
• RHP Carlos Carrasco
• RHP Justin Masterson
• RHP Josh Tomlin
• RHP Mitch Talbot
BULLPEN:
• RHP Chris Perez (closer)
• RHP Chad Durbin
• LHP Rafael Perez
• LHP Tony Sipp
• RHP Frank Herrmann
• RHP Vinnie Pestano
• RHP Justin Germano
CATCHERS:
• Carlos Santana
• Lou Marson
INFIELDERS:
• 1B Matt LaPorta
• 2B Orlando Cabrera
• SS Asdrubal Cabrera
• 3B Jack Hannahan
• DH Travis Hafner
• INF Adam Everett
OUTFIELDERS:
• LF Austin Kearns
• CF Michael Brantley
• RF Shin-Soo Choo
• OF Shelley Duncan
• OF Jason Buck
