BOSTON — There are, of course, two ways of looking at where the Cleveland Indians sit after the opening two games of their American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox.
On one hand, the team’s pair of aces, pitchers C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona, haven’t fared very well. After winning a combined 38 games during the regular season, neither was able to get through the fifth inning in Games 1 and 2, allowing a combined 12 earned runs.
Even so, thanks to a stout bullpen performance Saturday night, Cleveland returned home early Sunday with a series split. After Carmona’s departure, five Indians relievers pitched seven innings, limiting the powerful Boston lineup to just two runs. Finally, in the 11th inning, it was Boston’s ‘pen that faltered. Eric Gagne, Javier Lopez and Jon Lester allowed seven runs and the Indians had taken a 13-6 win, five hours and 14 minutes after the first pitch.
“Our bullpen did a fantastic job,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said. “When you’re in extra innings, particularly on the road, you’re talking about having to get six outs versus their three. You’ve really got to try to push the ballgame and keep them down, and our bullpen did a great job with that.”
Facing Rafael Betancourt in the bottom of the ninth, the Red Sox got a two-out single from Dustin Pedroia. Pinch- runner Jacoby Ellsbury promptly stole second. That brought up Kevin Youkilis. At the end of a tension-filled 11-pitch at-bat, Betancourt coaxed a lazy flyball to center.
As important as that was, it was merely a prelude to the next inning, when Tom Mastny was placed in the unenviable situation of having to face David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez and Mike Lowell. To that point in the series, all the trio had done, respectively, was: reach base 10 consecutive times (Ortiz); hit his 23rd postseason home run, an all-time record (Ramirez); and drive in six runs (Lowell).
But Mastny, who pitched two scoreless innings in Cleveland’s 10-3 Game 1 loss, was more than up to the challenge, putting the fearsome hitters down in order.
“That’s where you really have to work to extend the ballgame,” Wedge said. “Mastny was able to get in there last night for the first time in a couple weeks. Threw a couple innings. I think that really helped him in regard to how he pitched (Saturday). Betancourt, he was well beyond the call of duty with the way he pitched.”
However, even with an off day Sunday, and another scheduled Wednesday between Games 4 and 5, one wonders, should Sabathia and Carmona continue to struggle, whether the Indians’ bullpen can continue to pick up so many innings over the remainder of the series.
Conversely, when the series resumes tonight at Jacobs Field, some might ask if Boston will suffer from a lingering hangover having lost an opportunity to go up 2-0.
“I wish we would have won,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “But no, if this does us in, we’re not as good as we thought we were.”
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com
