The Cleveland Indians take their Major League-best record to Los Angeles, where they will face one of the best pitching staffs in the AL. Here's a quick look at both teams;
CLEVELAND INDIANS
Many managers prefer to work their bench players into games on a piecemeal basis. They will use one guy this day, another guy the next day, and so on. Not Indians manager Manny Acta. On days Acta decides to use his bench, he makes wholesale changes.
That was the case again Thursday, when the Indians beat Oakland 5-4 in 12 innings, improving their record to 21-9, the best 30-game start in franchise history. Acta decided to give starts to three of his bench players in the game, and it paid off at the end of the game.
Acta chose to give three starters, catcher Carlos Santana, first baseman Matt LaPorta and center fielder Grady Sizemore, a day off. That meant starts for backup catcher Lou Marson, backup first baseman Shelley Duncan and backup outfielder Austin Kearns.
That wasn't the first time this season Acta has used three bench players in the starting lineup in the same game. It's also not the first time such a maneuver has worked.
On this day, it was Marson who came through. He was 3-for-5, including the first triple of his major league career, but his biggest hit came in the top of the 12th inning. With the Indians leading 4-3, Marson stroked a two-out, RBI single.
Marson's hit pushed the Indians' lead to 5-3, and that run became the difference in the game after Oakland rallied for a run in the bottom of the 12th. It was a big day for Marson, a .195 hitter last year who is hitting .310 this year and seems to benefitting from the selective starts Acta gives him.
NOTES, QUOTES
--CF Grady Sizemore was given a regularly scheduled day off Thursday, as manager Manny Acta is still easing Sizemore back into everyday duty. Since coming off the disabled list April 17 after missing nearly a year due to microfracture knee surgery, Sizemore is being given a day off every four or five days until Acta is confident Sizemore is physically able to play on an everyday basis.
--C Lou Marson was 3-for-5 Thursday while giving starting C Carlos Santana a day off. Marson, who hit .195 last year, is hitting .310 this season, and one of his hits Wednesday was the first triple of his major league career.
--RHP Chad Durbin, the only Indians reliever who has been struggling this season, pitched two scoreless innings Thursday to get the win. After going 0-1 with an 8.38 ERA in 10 appearances in April, Durbin is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in two appearances (2 1/3 innings) in May.
--RHP Justin Masterson will attempt to earn his sixth win Friday, which would match his season total from last year, when he was 6-13. Masterson was 5-0 in his first six starts this year and is only the fourth pitcher in Indians history to win five games in the month of April in one season.
--RHP Josh Tomlin is off to a good start, but he continues to be plagued by the home run ball. Tomlin is 4-1 with a 2.43 ERA, but he has allowed seven home runs, which is tied for third most among AL pitchers. Eight of the 11 runs Tomlin has allowed this season have come on home runs.
BY THE NUMBERS: 21-9 -- The Indians' record, the best mark through 30 games in franchise history.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "It helps to win a series on the road against a pitching staff like that." -- Manager Manny Acta, after the Indians won two of three games in their series against the Oakland A's, who lead the American League in pitching.
ROSTER REPORT
MEDICAL WATCH:
--RHP Mitch Talbot (strained right elbow) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 12. He threw a bullpen session May 3, and he is scheduled for another during the first weekend of May.
--RHP Carlos Carrasco (right elbow tightness) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 25. He will make a rehab start for Class AA Akron on May 6, and he might return to the Indians the following week if that outing goes well.
--INF Jared Goedert (strained abdominal muscle) went on the 60-day disabled list March 30.
--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.
LOS ANGELES ANGELS
For 13 months, the Angels had a hard time beating the Boston Red Sox. They lost 15 of 16 meetings through Tuesday night of this week.
Then they packed two victories over the Red Sox into a 22-hour odyssey Wednesday and Thursday, a 5-3 victory in 13 innings and an 11-0 beat-down of former teammate John Lackey on Thursday.
Wednesday's game lasted nearly eight hours (including a two-hour, 35-minute rain delay) and didn't end until 2:45 a.m. Thursday. The Angels' team bus left Fenway Park for their hotel at 3:30 a.m., then turned around and came back a few hours later for a 1:35 p.m. start Thursday.
"Like I always say, you stick around in this game long enough, you're going to see things you've never seen before," outfielder Torii Hunter said of the latest ending in the 99-year-old park's history, as far as available research could determine.
"That was definitely the latest I've ever been on a baseball field," outfielder Vernon Wells said. "I wasn't tired. That was the thing. Once I got back to the (hotel) room, I still had enough energy to pack, iron a shirt. I went to bed at 4:45 (a.m.)."
That energy might have come from "coffee, coffee and more coffee," as Hunter put it. The Angels were still energized enough to pound out 18 hits in Thursday's victory, at least one from every player in their starting lineup.
"There was no thinking, no jittery-ness. We were all numb, had foggy heads," Hunter said of the quick turnaround. "Maybe that's what we need to do, stay up until 3 in the morning or something playing dominoes. Then come out, see ball, hit ball."
NOTES, QUOTES
--1B Mark Trumbo hit another home run at Fenway Park on Thursday, his second in two games, and is tied for the team lead with six home runs. That puts him on pace for 31 home runs this season. The Angels have only had one rookie in franchise history hit 30 home runs, Tim Salmon with 31 in 1993, when he won the AL Rookie of the Year award.
--OF Peter Bourjos was one of five Angels with multi-hit games in Thursday's 11-0 rout of the Red Sox. Bourjos was 3-for-4 with a double and also reached base when he was hit by a pitch. Bourjos scored a run each of the four times he reached base.
--RHP Joel Pineiro combined with Rich Thompson and Francisco Rodriguez on a seven-hit shutout Thursday at Fenway Park. The victory was Pineiro's first since July 15, 2010, against the Mariners. Pineiro spent six weeks on the disabled list because of an oblique injury last season and began this season on the disabled list because of shoulder discomfort.
--OF Torri Hunter was 1-for-3 with two of walks Thursday. Hunter is 13-for-33 over his last nine games, raising his average from .210 to .248 in that time.
--2B Howie Kendrick was 3-for-6 with a stolen base, a run scored and two RBI Thursday. Kendrick has 17 hits and 11 runs in his last 10 games. Kendrick leads the Angels with 24 runs and 40 hits.
BY THE NUMBERS: 2:45 a.m. -- The time when the final out was recorded in the Angels' 13-inning victory over the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Wednesday night/Thursday morning.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Maybe that's the key, no sleep. Play in a trance." -- Angels 2B Howie Kendrick, on the Angels' rout of the Red Sox on Thursday following Wednesday's 13-inning victory.
ROSTER REPORT
MEDICAL WATCH:
--LHP Scott Kazmir (lower back stiffness) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 4. He pitched in extended spring training April 19, and he was expected to make at least one more appearance there before starting a rehab assignment.
--1B Kendrys Morales (fractured left ankle) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 22. Morales had been running on a treadmill in early April, and he began running on the field April 12. Morales stopped taking batting practice in late April to focus on running. It's unlikely he will return before June.
--3B Freddy Sandoval (left side muscle strain) was injured March 3, and he went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 22.
