Indians Stymie Yanks 3-1

It only took one early mistake from Hiroki Kuroda to decide the outcome of Saturday night’s game between the New York Yankees (73-53) and Cleveland Indians (55-71). Kuroda struggled through the first inning but eventually settled down and shut out the Indians for the rest of his outing, unfortunately for the Yankees Justin Masterson was just a little bit better for the Indians shutting the Yankees down for the most part and working in and out of jams en route to a 3-1 win.

In the bottom of the first inning Kuroda hit leadoff man Jason Kipnis to start the game on a sour note. After getting Asdrubal Cabrera to ground out, Kuroda walked Shin-Soo Choo putting two men on. Kuorda quickly struck out Carlos Santana looking like he may get out of the jam. The first pitch to the next batter Michael Brantley was a fastball up in the zone and Brantley drilled it over the right-center field wall putting the Indians up 3-0. It was Brantley’s 6^th home run of the season.

After the first inning Kuroda looked like him dominant self only giving up three more hits in the next seven innings and striking out six Indians total. Kuroda got the loss and now stands at 12-9.

In the top of the sixth the Yankees were able to finally get a run across against Masterson. Derek Jeter led off with a line single to the left side, Nick Swisher walked and Robbie Cano singled loading the bases for Mark Teixeira who lifted a deep fly ball to center field scoring Jeter.  The Yankees weren’t able to get any more runs across in the inning after Eric Chavez and Russell Martin fly outs.  In the seventh the Yankees would load the bases again for Mark Teixeira. This time Teixeira could not bring a run in popping out to third base.

Masterson went 6 2/3 gave up one run on seven hits and struck out six.

The Yankees will play the Indians again on Sunday afternoon. Freddy Garcia (7-5 4.96) will start for the Yankees while Ubaldo Jimenez (9-12 5.59) will go for the Indians. Pregame coverage begin at 12:30, first pitch at 1:05 right here on 104.5 The Team ESPN Radio,