By Sheldon Ocker, Akron Beacon Journal –
MINNEAPOLIS — Is there anything more satisfying than watching your team hit three home runs in the same inning? Sure, watching your team hit four in the same inning.
By contrast, it’s not much of a turn-on to witness a pitcher — even if he’s on your side — throw ground ball after ground ball. Yet that, as much as the longball, was responsible for the Cleveland Indians’ 5-0 win over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday at Target Field.
Tribe fans no doubt will remember the fifth inning, which began with Shin-Soo Choo’s home run to left field, continued with a Jason Kipnis strikeout and then consecutive home runs by Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana.
It is unlikely that Indians partisans gathered at the corner saloon or around the kitchen table Tuesday night to discuss their choice for ground ball of the game, courtesy of a Derek Lowe sinker. But his ability to induce opposing batters to beat the ball into the dirt has been a big reason for his success this year.
“I’m not going to sit here and tell you that a 6-1 record was expected,” manager Manny Acta said. “But Lowe has done what we expected in giving us innings and being good in the clubhouse.”
Eighteen Twins bounced balls to infielders, who turned them into 22 outs (four double plays). During one stretch from the fourth inning into the seventh, Lowe threw 10 ground balls in a row, nine for outs, and one, Brian Dozier’s hard grounder just inside the third-base line, for a double.
Lowe pitched his first shutout — fourth of his career — since Aug. 31, 2005. The outing also was the 10th complete game of his career and the first since Aug. 26, 2008.
“He was fantastic,” Acta said. “He was a ground-ball machine the whole day. I don’t keep track of every game I see, but it’s certainly rare to see a complete game shutout and no strikeouts. I’m not a fan of letting a guy go out there and throw that many pitches, but he did a great job, and we had to let him go for it (the shutout).
“When he got out of that jam in the seventh (bases loaded, two outs), we had to give him a shot. I knew at the end he was out of gas, but he’s in great shape.”
Lowe threw 127 pitches, 76 for strikes. The Twins got to him for six hits (three on ground balls) and four walks, but their penchant for bouncing into double plays (they began the day with 34, fourth most in the majors) made life easier on Lowe.
“That’s the thing about sinkerball guys like Lowe or (Justin) Masterson,” Acta said. “They’re only one pitch from getting out of trouble.”
After the eighth inning, Acta decided he would forgo calling in a reliever unless Lowe gave up a run — or dropped from exhaustion. After Josh Willingham led off the ninth by drawing a walk, catcher Lou Marson went to the mound to talk to Lowe.
“Doesn’t Manny know that I’m going to be 39 and not 19?” Lowe asked Marson.
“I was just kidding,” said Lowe, who used the same line on Acta, when the players were shaking hands on the field after the win.
What did Marson say to provoke Lowe’s joking response?
“I don’t know what he wanted,” Lowe said. “He was just out there jibber-jabbering. No, I knew what he wanted. Slowing down is not my strength. That’s all he was saying.”
A fast worker, Lowe knows how to keep his infielders on their toes. But he realized he was rushing to get the game over with in the ninth and that he needed to spend a few more seconds before he threw each pitch.
Lowe entered the game as the No. 1 ground-ball pitcher in the American League with 103 (that’s outs and hits). He probably did nothing to alter his place in the standings Tuesday. He also was tied for 10th among AL pitchers in throwing double-play balls with six. He will undoubtedly rise in those rankings.
“I only threw seven or eight breaking balls the whole game,” Lowe said. “I threw one cutter to Willingham and a handful of change-ups to (Joe) Mauer. That was it.”
In other words, Lowe threw 110-115 sinkers.
“You keep doing it until they make the adjustment,” Marson said. “His sinker was very good today, but it was the same when I caught him against Texas. I think it’s been the same all year, but I’ve only caught him twice.”
Lowe appreciated being able to throw a shutout at an advanced age.
“It was pretty enjoyable, a lot of fun,” he said.
Marson just likes having Lowe around.
“He throws whatever (pitches) I put down,” Marson said. “When he does shake (me off), it’s usually for location — And he’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever had. Seriously.”
