Chris Assenheimer

The Chronicle-Telegram

CLEVELAND — Inclement conditions may have delayed the first pitch by two hours and three minutes Saturday, but rain couldn’t douse the flame rising from the Indians’ red-hot start to the season.

With quality starting pitching and plenty of offense once again serving as the recipe for success, Cleveland won for the 10th time in 12 games, turning back the Orioles 8-3 at Progressive Field.

You can’t stop the Indians these days, and opposing teams are finding out it’s pretty tough to contain them as well.

“It’s still early and nobody knows what’s going to happen, but I think we are playing really well,” said veteran second baseman Orlando Cabrera of his new club, which stands atop the Central Division tied with Kansas City at 10-4 on the season. “I think we have what it takes to win. We’re pitching well and we’re scoring runs.

“We have to carry this momentum through the season. We’re going to have some rough parts. We’re a strong team. We just have to stay away from injuries.”

Effective outings from the rotation and consistent run support to back it up has carried the Indians during their successful start.

Both were on display against Baltimore, which couldn’t master Cleveland’s starting pitcher Josh Tomlin nor keep the Indians’ sizzling sticks in check during the second game of the series.

Though admittedly not at his best, Tomlin (3-0, 2.75 ERA) was still able to offer up enough to keep his team in the game, allowing two runs on six hits over six innings. Both of his runs came on solo home runs.

“I thought he had to labor a little bit today,” Indians manager Manny Acta said of Tomlin. “He didn’t have his best stuff but he’s always in control out there. He knows what to do.”

Tomlin, 26, has pitched well above his age and experience since joining the Indians’ rotation for 12 starts late last year. He is the only Cleveland pitcher to last at least five innings in each of his first 15 career starts and the first pitcher in the majors to accomplish the feat since Kyle Kendrick did it for the Phillies in 2007.

Tomlin has done nothing fancy to maintain the streak, throwing his four pitches for strikes on a consistent basis, while letting his defense do the work behind him.

“If I go out there and throw strikes, I feel like we have good enough hitters that we have a good chance to win,” he said.

That theory was certainly proved correct Saturday, as the Indians’ offense went to work early and often against Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie, a former Cleveland pitcher, who was the club’s first-round draft pick in 2002.

Guthrie entered the day with an impressive 0.64 ERA through his first two starts, but the Indians scored six times off the right-hander within the first three innings.

Cleveland scored twice in the second, then with Shin-Soo Choo’s one-out solo homer providing the spark, added four more in the third.

“That’s huge,” said Tomlin of the early output. “It frees you up to go out and throw strikes and not worry about giving up solo homers and stuff like that.”

The Indians have awarded their starting pitchers with early leads often this season, scoring 42 of their 75 runs within the first four innings. Cleveland is 8-1 when scoring first.

“Everybody wants to pitch with the lead,” Acta said. “The offense scoring runs early is always huge.”

The Indians also got some offense late, with Orlando Cabrera putting the game away on a towering two-run blast to left field off Baltimore reliever Michael Gonzalez in the seventh.

Cleveland, which started the year with two straight losses at home, has won six straight at Progressive Field, going for No. 7 and a three-game sweep of the Orioles today.

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

CLEVELAND — Few are questioning whether Justin Masterson belongs in the starting rotation at this point.

The right-hander, who many feel is more suited for the bullpen, continued to dispel that theory Friday night, as the Indians opened a three-game series against Baltimore with a resounding 8-2 win.

In what was his third start of the season, Masterson looked like he did in the first two, and that was good news for him and the Indians, who improved to 9-4 on the year — their best start to a season since 2002.

“I think we would all like to do this every time out there,” said Masterson, who allowed just a run on four hits over seven innings. “Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. It’s nice. You ride it while you got it.”

Masterson has undoubtedly had it over his first three starts of the season. In those outings he has allowed only three runs over 20 1/3 innings, earning decisions in all three.

“It was another outstanding pitching performance by Masterson,” manager Manny Acta said. “He was tremendous. He had good velocity and good sink. All they could do was beat the ball down into the ground.”

With his sinker working wonders once again, Masterson was perfect through three innings — a leadoff single to Brian Roberts in the fourth ending both the perfect game and no-hitter.

He allowed his only run in the fourth, improving to 3-0 with a 1.33 ERA.

Masterson, who was a tough-luck pitcher last year, and was not nearly as effective early, didn’t win his third game until July 1 in his 16th start.

“Wow, that’s a long time,” Masterson said. “I’m glad I got that third one now.”

Masterson tinkered with his mechanics in the offseason and has gotten more run support out of the gate, but that hasn’t been the key to his fast start, according to the pitcher.

“A lot of it is just throwing strikes,” said Masterson, who owns a 2.45 ERA in 16 appearances since the beginning of last August. “Throwing strikes is the biggest thing. Getting that first strike in enables you to extend the zone. With my stuff that’s key.”

Cleveland’s offense backed Masterson with plenty of support.

After going in order through the first two innings against Orioles starter Zach Britton, the Indians struck in the third with four runs that would be all they would require on the night.

A leadoff triple from Matt LaPorta was followed by five consecutive hits, with a two-run single from Asdrubal Cabrera capping the output.

Cabrera continued his slugging ways by driving in four of Cleveland’s runs, adding another two-run single in the seventh for the Indians’ final runs of the game.

Cleveland’s No. 2 hitter is batting .302 with the team-lead in home runs (four) and RBIs (14) in 13 games.

“He’s done a phenomenal job for us so far,” Acta said. “He’s healthy. We’re expecting him to have a very good year for us. So far, so good.”

Travis Hafner also flexed his muscles again, belting a solo homer to right-center in Britton’s final inning of work in the sixth.

Hafner, whose power was largely vacant last year, has three homers and eight RBIs in 11 games.

The Orioles scored their second run in the ninth inning against right-hander Joe Smith, who made his season debut after being activated from the disabled list, where he lingered with a strained abdominal muscle.

Smith, a key member of Cleveland’s bullpen last year, got two outs before allowing consecutive singles and hitting a batter.

Bouncing back from two straight losses on the heels of an eight-game winning streak, the Indians saw a boost at the attendance gate, where they drew 16,346 fans with a walk-up crowd of 5,551.

It was the biggest crowd at Progressive Field since the season opener, and the fan base is likely to continue to grow should the Indians remain on their winning path.

The Indians are just concentrating on today.

“It’s every day,” LaPorta said. “I don’t care if we win 20 in a row. The 21st game, we have to prepare like it’s the first game.”

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

CLEVELAND — The Indians’ fast start to the season is even more surprising considering two of the key cogs in the middle of their lineup, third hitter Shin-Soo Choo and cleanup hitter Carlos Santana, are struggling at the plate.

Choo has been scuffling since the outset of the year, entering Friday batting a paltry .200 (9-for-45) with a home run and four RBIs in 12 games.

Santana started fast but has slumped to .205 (9-for-44), going hitless in his last 20 at-bats through Thursday.

Cleveland was off Thursday and the second-year catcher was out of the lineup for the series opener with Baltimore.

“He’s gotten out of his comfort zone trying to get those hits,” manager Manny Acta said. “He’s chasing pitches he usually doesn’t swing at. These two days off will give him a chance to clear his mind.”

Some people will question why Acta has an inexperienced player such as Santana hitting in such a high-profile spot in the order.

“Some people question that because he’s not hitting,” Acta said of the 25-year-old Santana, whose rookie season last year ended after 46 games thanks to a left knee injury. “Nobody questioned it when he was hitting over .500. If they question it, they are going to question it the rest of the season, because that’s where he’s going to hit.”

Last year, Choo became the first player in franchise history to hit .300 or better, while hitting 20 homers and stealing 20 bases in consecutive seasons. He appeared poised to have a breakout 2011, but has started slowly.

“Not everyone that’s not hitting .300 is pressing,” Acta said. “The best hitter in the game (Albert Pujols) is struggling. It’s just a matter of time. Not everybody’s going to start all cylinders.”

Cleveland’s offense as a whole has. The Indians entered Friday averaging just under five runs per game.

Bullpen boost

Reliever Joe Smith has finally joined the club.

The right-hander, who missed the majority of spring training with a strained abdominal muscle, was activated from the disabled list and officially added to the 25-man roster.

Smith takes the place of right-hander Frank Herrmann, who was optioned to Triple-A Columbus on Thursday. Herrmann allowed five runs on six hits in four appearances covering 4 1/3 innings, but Acta said the move was not performance-based.

“There’s no question that Smitty pitched good for us last year,” said Acta of Smith, who went 2-2 with a 3.38 ERA in 53 games for Cleveland last season. “He’s going to help us.”

The switch

In an effort to keep ace Fausto Carmona on a five-day schedule, the right-hander will take the scheduled start of Mitch Talbot in the series finale with Baltimore on Sunday.

Instead of getting an extra day of rest, Talbot will get two, making his next start Tuesday at Kansas City.

Southpaw success

Entering Friday, the two left-handers in Cleveland’s bullpen — Tony Sipp and Rafael Perez — had not allowed a run over a combined 10 2/3 innings to start the season.

Both Sipp (1-for-21) and Perez (1-for-12) had only allowed a hit apiece.

Sizemore status

A solo homer from Grady Sizemore (microfracture surgery left knee) provided the only run in Columbus’ 1-0 victory in the first game of a doubleheader Thursday against Toledo.

Sizemore, who is expected to join the Indians sometime before May, entered Friday batting .353 (6-for-17) with two doubles, a homer and four RBIs in five rehab games for Columbus and Double-A Akron.

Minor details

Top prospect Cord Phelps is off to a fast start for Columbus, entering Friday with a .414 batting average (12-for-29), two homers and seven RBIs in seven games. … Left-hander Scott Barnes is 1-0 with a 1.64 ERA in his first two starts for Akron. Barnes, acquired in the Ryan Garko trade with San Francisco in 2009, led the Eastern League through Thursday with 17 strikeouts in 11 innings. … LHP Drew Pomeranz, Cleveland’s first-round draft (fifth overall) pick last year, has been impressive over his first two professional starts for advanced Class A Kinston. Pomeranz has allowed just one unearned run and three hits, while striking out 17 over 11 innings. … Class A Lake County manager Ted Kubiak is closing in on 1,000 victories in 12 years as a manager in the Indians’ minor league system, entering Friday with 977.

Roundin’ third

Leadoff man Michael Brantley has hits in 10 of the 11 games he’s batted in through Thursday. … The Indians own the eighth overall pick in the First-Year Player Draft (June 6-8), and three of the first 100 choices. … Players from both teams wore the No. 42 as part of major league baseball’s recognition of Jackie Robinson Day. … Today, 1:05, STO/WTAM 1100-AM/WEOL 930-AM. Tomlin (2-0, 2.63) vs. Guthrie (1-1, 0.64).

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

NORTH OLMSTED — Lorain mayoral candidate Chase Ritenauer has resigned as North Olmsted’s safety-service director after a federal investigation determined that he was in violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits government workers who deal with federal money from running in partisan elections.

Ritenauer

Ritenauer, who is running in the Democratic primary against Lorain Mayor Tony Krasienko, said he resigned Sunday to avoid being in violation of the law. Krasienko is also being challenged by City Councilman Mitch Fallis, D-at large.

Ritenauer said he first learned of the investigation — which was spurred by a complaint filed with federal authorities — in February and has been cooperating with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel ever since.

“They basically said if you withdraw your candidacy or resign as safety-service director there’s no issues at all,” he said.

Ritenauer said he didn’t think he’d have a problem remaining on the job in North Olmsted while running for office because he didn’t directly oversee federal grant money as part of his job duties and wasn’t paid through a federal grant. But he was told by federal officials that because he oversaw the police and fire chiefs, who do deal with federal grants, he was actually violating the Hatch Act.

North Olmsted Mayor Kevin Kennedy said he was disappointed to lose Ritenauer and is now looking for a replacement. He said he would consider hiring Ritenauer back if the primary doesn’t go his way.

Ritenauer said that leaving North Olmsted will give him more time to concentrate on the campaign.

“I’m all in for the city of Lorain,” he said.

Read Saturday’s Chronicle for more on this story.