CLEVELAND – Jake Westbrook didn’t make many bad pitches Monday night at Progressive Field. Unfortunately for Westbrook and the Indians, one of them wound up beating him.
With the Indians owning a tenuous one-run lead over the defending world champion Yankees in the eighth inning, Westbrook made a monumental mistake to Curtis Granderson, who clouted the game-winning home run in New York’s 3-2 win.
Cleveland was able to prevent Alex Rodriguez from hitting his 600th home run, holding New York’s third baseman hitless in four at-bats. But that was about all the Indians could celebrate after suffering one of the more heartbreaking defeats of the season.
“It was definitely a humbling game,” said Westbrook, who allowed three runs on just four hits over eight innings. “It was a tough one to lose – one-run lead in the eighth inning and you give up a two-run homer. That was the ballgame. Just how late it was, that’s what makes it such a tough loss.”
Westbrook entered the eighth inning pitching brilliantly against one of the most potent lineups in baseball, which had mustered just two hits to that point off the Indians’ right-hander.
But after allowing a leadoff single to Jorge Posada, Westbrook tried to sneak a sinker past Granderson that didn’t sink low enough to prohibit New York’s center fielder from launching the 1-0 offering an estimated 421 feet into the right-field seats.
“It’s tough because we battled really hard and (Westbrook) pitched an outstanding game,” said Cleveland manager Manny Acta.
Acta was asked if he considered removing Westbrook after he allowed the leadoff single to Posada.
“I wouldn’t even think about taking out a guy who had a two-hitter coming into the eighth inning, especially the way he had pitched over the last three innings before,” Acta said. “Jake was terrific. He was almost near perfect.”
With all of the offense on the field, the majority of it wearing Yankees uniforms, the game surprisingly morphed into a pitching duel between Westbrook and his counterpart, right-hander Javier Vazquez.
Both right-handers limited the opposition to just one run over the first five innings, Cleveland’s coming in the second on a homer from Travis Hafner – his first since June 15.
New York’s first run also came via the long ball, with Nick Swisher breaking up Westbrook’s perfect game with one out in the fourth inning on a no-doubt drive to right.
“I gave up two home runs,” Westbrook said. “That’s the frustrating part. That’s why we lost the game.”
Cleveland forged ahead by a run in the sixth on a two-out RBI double from Shin-Soo Choo.
The Indians outhit the Yankees 6-4 but struggled again with runners in scoring position, going 0-for-7 in the situation. They are 1-for-34 with runners in scoring position over their last five games. Of Cleveland’s six hits, five went for extra bases.
The Indians didn’t work around Rodriguez, who got pitches to hit in all four of his trips to the plate, which according to Acta, will be the approach his pitchers will take over the next three games of the series.
“Most teams have one or two guys you have to be careful with,” Acta said. “They have three or four, really nine that make you sweat. He’s still one of the best players to ever wear a uniform, so you have to be careful, but he’s not by himself. That’s the thing. We still have to go after him.”
Cleveland’s manager isn’t concerned with preventing Rodriguez from reaching the milestone on his turf.
“We’re not going to base our whole philosophy on not letting him get his 600th home run,” Acta said. “I could care less if he hits three home runs and we win the game.
“We’re not going to do anything different. If it happens that he does it here, we can live with that.”
The loss in the series opener Monday night won’t be as easy to stomach.
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.
