CT photo by Bruce Bishop.

An elderly man driving a blue Chevrolet Cavalier with Medina County license plates died at the scene of an accident this afternoon at state Route 303 and Island Road.

According to the Highway Patrol, the driver who died was an 82-year-old man from Hinckley. They aren’t releasing his identity until family is notified.

The 2001 Cavalier was eastbound on Route 303 when it was struck by an ambulance that was traveling southbound through the intersection with lights and sirens on. A firefighter/EMT who was thrown around in the accident is being taken to Medina General Hospital.

The ambulance had just picked up a 62-year-old man who fell 15 feet from the roof of his home at 16785 S. Island Road. That patient appeared to be relatively OK and has been transferred to another ambulance to go to Medina as well.

Check back at Chroniclet.com for more on this story as it becomes available.

CLEVELAND — A Lorain man died in a traffic accident yesterday in Cleveland, according to Powell Casesar, Cuyahoga County coroner’s office spokesman.

Caesar said Jonathan Williams, 51, of Lorain was pronounced dead at the scene yesterday at Lee Road and Interstate 480 a little after 3 p.m.

According to police, Fourth District officers responded at 3:10 p.m. to Interstate 480 westbound at the Lee Road exit for a two-car accident. Upon arrival, officers found Williams trapped in an overturned panel truck. He was unresponsive, and EMS was notified and responded to the scene.

According to police Williams was driving westbound on 480 when he was rear-ended by a Chevrolet Cobalt, which caused him to lose control and his truck to flip over.

The driver of the Cobalt, Jason Sloan, an unlicensed 18-year-old male, was arrested for aggravated vehicular homicide.

Check back at Chroniclet.com for more on this story as it becomes available.

CLEVELAND — Justin Masterson may be returning to the rotation after all.

Mitch Talbot, who left his last start with right shoulder inflammation, was scheduled to be examined by doctors Tuesday night. If Talbot checks out OK, he will make his scheduled start Satur­day. If he doesn’t, Masterson is the strongest candidate to take his place.

With Masterson nearing his limit on innings pitched, the right-hander was moved to the bullpen and worked seven innings in relief Sunday after Talbot left with the injury in the first inning.

If Masterson does wind up filling in for Talbot, manager Manny Acta said it would be his final appearance of the season.

Masterson (6-12, 4.73 ERA) has experi­enced an up-and-down first full season as a starting pitcher, going 6-12 with a 4.88 ERA and 126 strikeouts in 28 starts covering 166 innings. His best work came at the end of the year — 3-2, 2.95 ERA over his last seven starts — and solidified his spot in the rotation entering spring train­ing in 2011.

“The plan was to start him and give him a legitimate chance to show he could handle it,” Acta said. “There was some inconsistency early but then he pitched some good games.

“We’re trying to build a starting rota­tion (for 2011). He has shown the ability to miss bats. That takes the defense out of the equation. He’s got the stuff. When he’s on, left, right, it doesn’t matter.”

Donald down

Second baseman Jason Donald is expected to miss at least a week with a bruised tendon in his right index finger.

Donald sustained the injury Saturday when a pitch he bunted caught his hand on the bat.

Acta said Luis Valbuena would get the majority of playing time at second in Donald’s absence.

As insurance, Cleveland called up infielder Drew Sutton, 27, from Triple-A Columbus on Tuesday. Sutton, claimed off waivers from the Reds in early August, has spent the majority of the season at the Triple-A level, batting a combined .273 with five home runs and 42 RBIs in 113 regular­season games with Louisville and Columbus (29 games).

To take Sutton’s spot on the Clippers’ roster, infielder Jason Kipnis was promoted from Double-A Akron. Kipnis, a second-round draft pick last year, has spent the majority of the season with the Aeros, hitting .311 with 10 homers and 43 RBIs in 79 games.

Schedule stuff

The Indians announced their 2011 schedule, with the season opening April 1 at Progressive Field against Central Division rival Chicago, followed by a three-game series against Boston (April 5-7).

The Yankees make their only trip of the season to Cleveland on July 4-6.

Interleague opponents making trips to Cleveland include Cincinnati (May 20-22), Pittsburgh (June 17-19) and Colorado (June 20-22).

Minor details

• Columbus opened its Governors’ Cup Championship Series on Tuesday, beating Durham 18-5 in the first game of a five-game series. David Huff started for the Clippers, who are in the finals for the first time since 1997.
• Class A Lake County clinched the Midwest Conference East Division on Tuesday with a 6-1 win over Great Lakes. The Captains open the best-of-five championship series tonight vs. West Division champion Clinton in Clinton, Iowa. Jason Knapp will start for Lake County, which is making its first finals appearance since 2003.

Roundin’ third

• The Indians entered Tuesday with a second-half team ERA of 3.81, as opposed to a 4.64 ERA during the first half. Cleveland’s starting pitchers had posted a 2.48 ERA over the last 17 games through Monday.

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

CLEVELAND – The Indians’ fourth hitter cleaned things up Tuesday night at Progressive Field and it wasn’t DH Travis Hafner.

Hafner, who is making $11.5 million this season, was replaced in the batting order by a guy signed to a minor league contract in Shelley Duncan. Duncan responded by hitting two home runs and driving in all of Cleveland’s runs in a 4-3 victory over the Angels.

“What we saw today was the reason we brought Shelley Duncan aboard,” said Indians manager Manny Acta, “not just the two home runs but his ability to hit left-handed pitching. He’s an aggressive guy. At least you know he’s going to take his hacks.

“He pretty much won the game for us offensively.”

From his spot in left field, Duncan also had a hand in the defensive play of the night that prevented the tying run from scoring in the sixth inning.

With the Indians up 2-1, Hideki Matsui doubled to left-center with Torii Hunter trying to score from first base.

Duncan relayed to shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, who made a strong throw to the plate. Catcher Lou Marson gathered the ball on the short hop and held on when Hunter plowed him over to record the final out of the inning.

“It was pretty fun watching that play all the way from left-center,” said Duncan, who has one fewer homer (10) than Hafner in 160 fewer at-bats. “As fast as it happened, it was pretty clean. I was more fired up about that than anything else that happened tonight.”

The Indians, who have struggled in the field for much of the season, had a positive night in the department.

“The defense was huge, especially the play at the plate by Lou Marson,” Acta said. “That was key.”

The defensive gem helped preserve the win for rookie right-hander Josh Tomlin, who continued on his surprisingly consistent trek, allowing three runs on seven hits over 6 2/3 innings.

Tomlin (4-3, 4.17 ERA) allowed a run in the first on Hunter’s double, but starting with the final two outs of the opening inning, he retired 16 of the next 17 hitters he faced.

Tomlin has pitched at least five innings in each of his first nine career big league starts since being promoted from Triple-A Columbus. He is just one of three pitchers in Indians history to last at least five innings in his first nine starts, joining Steve Dunning (12 games in 1950) and Herb Score (10 games in 1955).

“I haven’t really surprised myself,” Tomlin said. “I just try to go out and be the same pitcher every time and control both sides of the plate. That’s consistency for me.

“I’m not trying to do too much, just throw four pitches for strikes and let them put the ball in play.”

Closer Chris Perez worked a tense ninth inning, retiring the first batter he faced before allowing the next two to reach on a walk and a single. The right-hander got a big strikeout on Peter Bourjos before getting Albert Callaspo to fly out to left to earn his 20^th save of the season.

“Chris Perez got into a little jam,” Acta said. “But when you have the stuff that he has, you can get out of it sometimes with a strikeout. He continues to be fantastic for us at the back end.”

Perez converted his seventh straight save opportunity and has saved 16 of his last 17 chances.

Center fielder Michael Brantley extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a leadoff single in the first inning. It is the longest streak of the season by a Cleveland player and it matched the longest by an Indians rookie since Cory Snyder in 1986.

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