White Sox 1 Indians 0: Peavy Outduels Masterson

This one was pretty pure and simple folks. The Tribe couldn’t touch Jake Peavy and the White Sox were fortunate enough to scratch a first inning run on an Adam Dunn sacrifice fly against Justin Masterson. Other than that, there was no offense to speak of on either side.

The White Sox first two batters, Juan Pierre and Omar Vizquel, reached via a double and a single respectively, and it looked as though Masterson’s first inning struggles would continue. Dunn’s sacrifice fly was to the wall in Center, allowing Omar to move up to second. But then the big right-hander found his groove and never looked back.

Over the next seven innings, he would allow just three hits, giving his team every chance to win. That first inning stuck in his craw after the game.

“The sinker was a little flat,” Masterson said with a shrug. “We were trying to find it, mixing and matching pitches. It worked out from there.”

In his first complete game of the season, J Mast stuck out eight and walked two, while allowing just the one first inning run. That is all you can ask for out of your starter. Unfortunately for Justin, he hasn’t received a lot of run support of late. He is winless in his last four starts, with an ERA of 2.78.

As good as Masterson was, Chicago’s Jake Peavy was even better. The former NL Cy Young award winner looked like his old pre-injury self last night, while receiving lots of help from home plate umpire Eric Cooper. I will give Cooper one thing, at least he was consistent. He was calling the high and the wide strikes all night long and both starters took advantage; Peavy in particular.

Peavy gave up just three Indian hits – singles by Asdrubal Cabrera in the first, and Shin-Soo Choo’s two in the fourth and seventh innings. Like Masterson, he struck out eight, but didn’t walk anyone.

Said last night’s DH Shelley Duncan: “There’s a lot of guys on this team he was really good with hitting the corners, doing what he needed to do to win. He was himself, switching arm angles, screwing your timing up. Just tricky Peavy.”

The Sox starter was also facing a Tribe lineup missing two key elements – DL’d outfielder Grady Sizemore and DH Travis Hafner, who was a late scratch after injuring his side during batting practice. Without those two, Manny Acta had to scramble, inserting Duncan in as his DH and moving Travis Buck to the five hole. Matt LaPorta was scheduled for a day off and Lou Marson was catching.

Acta, always a good quote, said of Peavy not having to face Sizemore and Hafner “He probably could’ve got them out, too”

The Tribe looked like they could potentially get the tying run home in the eighth. Orlando Cabrera led off the inning with a deep drive to left-center that looked like a double at the every least. Instead, CF Brett Lillibridge made a spectacular sliding catch at the base of the wall. If he doesn’t make that play, OC is in scoring position with nobody out.

These 1-0 losses are going to happen. That’s why baseball is so great. There’s always tomorrow. That brings us to tonight’s matchup between Fausto Carmona (3-3, 3.94 ERA) and Gavin Floyd (4-3, 4.22 ERA). If the Tribe can take tonight’s game, they would have gone 3-1 on this mini four-game trip against divisional opponents. You’d take that all day.

Lets just hope that the Hafner injury is nothing serious and he is able to get right back into the lineup. With the way he is swinging the bat, the offense needs him.

(AP Photo/Charles Cherney)