Kazmir, Blown Call Shut Down Twins 5-1

After a 2 1/2 hour delay that pushed back the start of this game to around 2:30 pm, the Indians and Twins finally were able to start their game. Scott Kazmir struck out 11 Twins and a blown call in the 5th inning gave the Indians an extra out and they used it to score a couple more runs in beating the Twins 5-1 on Saturday afternoon.

Kazmir completed his comeback season in fine fashion, striking out at least one Twin in all 6 innings that he pitched, with the only run against him coming on a 4th inning single by Eric Fryer. The Twins had threatened for more in the inning by getting the first two men on base, but Chris Colabello and Darin Mastroianni both struck out, and that RBI single by Fryer was all the damage the Twins would do today.

On the other side, Cole De Vries wasn't pitching a bad game to start. His strikeout pitches were working too as he K'd 5 Indians in his first 2 1/3 innings and 7 in the first 3 2/3, but he ran into trouble late in the 4th. After starting the inning with strikeouts of Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher, De Vries allowed a single to Jason Kipnis before Carlos Santana crushed a pitch to the flagpoles in right field for a 2-run homer and a 2-0 deficit for the Twins.

After Fryer's single in the bottom of the inning cut it to 2-1, the Indians struck again in the 5th with two outs. This time, De Vries allowed back-to-back singles for Yan Gomes and Mike Aviles, and this brought up Bourn, who lined the ball deep to right field. It bounced off the lip of the padding on the fence and bounced high, with Gomes easily scoring. Aviles was behind him and with a play at the plate, he was ruled safe by home plate umpire Larry Vanover, even though replays showed that catcher Fryer tagged him on the ankle and in fact, Aviles never even touched home plate. Instead of having the 3rd out and being down 3-1, the Twins were instead losing 4-1, and the Indians got another run in the inning following a Swisher walk and Kipnis RBI single, giving us the final score.

From there, Kazmir, Marc Rzepczynski (didn't have to look up his name!), Cody Allen, and Joe Smith kept the Twins from scoring any more.

WP: Scott Kazmir (10-9)

LP: Cole De Vries (0-2)

Stud

Eric Fryer (1 for 1, RBI, 2 BB)

Duds

Cole De Vries (5 IP, 5 R, 6 H, 1 BB, 7 K), Brian Dozier (0 for 3, BB, K), Darin Mastroianni (0 for 3, 3 K), Pedro Florimon (0 for 3, K)