Also, Felix Hernandez was just a touch better than Tomlin on this night. Fat lot of good it did him. This, my friends, was one hell of a pitchers duel. King Felix, in front of a raucous crowd in the "King's Court," kept the Indians off balance all night, with 24 called strikes, including 6 in 8th inning alone. The thing about Hernandez is the lateral movement on that fastball. He throws hard (what, about 94ish) and mixes in some wicked breaking stuff, but the way he gets ahead is that heater inching back onto the black. Tomlin, without stuff half as good, does much the same when he is on. And, good golly, Josh sure was locked in tonight (25 called strikes). After getting knocked around for 8 earned on 13 hits in his first two appearances, Tomlin allowed just a run on 5 hits against the M's. Building on a trend from his first start, he fanned seven Mariners, including the last batter he faced (Dustin Ackley) on, if you can believe it, a high fastball. It is the first time in his Major League career that Josh has fanned 6+ hitters in consecutive games, let alone 7. Heck, it was only the third time Tomlin has gone 8 full innings and it came after an inauspicious beginning. He fell behind Mariners' lead off hitter Chone Figgins (Your name is tainted!) 3-0 to start the game. It was Josh's first 3-0 count of the season; he had only five in 2011. Then he threw a strike. It was his first 3-1 count of 2012, only 13 of those all of last season. Then he struck Chode out. Then he got better. There were some hard hit balls, as there always will be against Tomlin, but big 4-3 only threw 95 pitches in earning his first win of the young campaign. 95 pitches, 70 strikes. And it's not just about strikes, it is about quality strikes, locating the pitches within the zone. Returning to a number that I mentioned earlier in the week, Josh had allowed a .300 average (6-for-20) on two strike pitches coming into the game last night. The Mariners went 2-for-14 (.143) yesterday and that's the difference.
Even though Tomlin really did have his good stuff, no pitcher exists in a vacuum and Josh's defense had his back. Counting down the top 3 - #3. Jason Kipnis' throw home when Seattle scored their run. While the toss itself was bloody awful, I am a huge proponent of playing every ball as if it is the final out of the World Series and Kip certainly used that mindset in trying to gun down Michael Saunders down at the dish. #2. The double play to end the second. Everything about this was textbook and it got Tomlin out of a jam. Good pick by Jack, nice feed, great job by Kipnis to hang in with Saunders bearing down on him and get the ball to Casey Kotchman to close the frame. #1. Jason Donald to Kotchman to end the 4th and strand a runner on third. You will not see a better play on both ends and it saved the pivotal run of the game.
Back to Kotchman. I'm beginning to see the defense that he is touted for. He is not slick, but he gets the job done. Unfortunately, he is not doing so at the plate. CK against KC? .455 (5-for-11), 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 SB, 3 BB, 0 K, 1.571 OPS. Against the rest of the league? .091 (3-for-33), 0 HR, 1 RBI, 0 SB, 0 BB, 5 K, .212 OPS. Ouch. Good thing that we play the Royals 15 more times this season. Also, much love to Casey for getting that bunt down in the 9th. A skill that has been sorely lacking on this team for years, the ability to execute the sacrifice certainly earns a player big points in my book.
I'll leave you with this question to ponder. On a team with two nominal #1s, do the Indians (especially compared with King Felix and his 8th inning) have any sort of ace at all?
Cheers.
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