Tribe Wins & The Shelly Duncan Outfield Shift

Ned Yost employs an outfield shift against Indians left fielder Shelly Duncan

The Indians improved to 2-4 on the season by defeating the Kansas City Royals 8-3. They did their heavy lifting in the first inning scoring 7 times off Royals starter Luke Hochevar who seemed to be rattled by a check swing single on an excuse me swing by Shelly Duncan and a wind blown triple off the bat of Jason Kipnis. Asdrubal Cabrera capped the scoring by hitting a solo home run to straight away center in the 8th inning.

Indians starter Derek Lowe (2-0 1.98 ERA) worked 6.2 innings for the win and surrendered 3R/3ER on 11 hits while striking out 2 and walking 0. The Indians used a trio of relievers (Tony Sipp, Joe Smith, and Vinnie Pestano) to work the final 2.1 innings.

Close Call: Kotchman On/Off The Bag?

INDIANS BOXSCORE

Cleveland	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Brantley, CF	5	1	2	1	0	1	2	.136
Cabrera, A, SS	5	2	2	1	0	0	1	.250
Choo, RF	4	1	2	2	1	2	0	.227
Santana, C, C	5	0	1	0	0	2	3	.208
Hafner, DH	5	0	0	0	0	1	3	.200
Duncan, LF	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	.300
Cunningham, LF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.143
Kotchman, 1B	4	1	1	0	0	0	1	.120
Kipnis, 2B	4	1	1	2	0	1	1	.120
Hannahan, 3B	3	1	1	1	1	0	0	.316
Totals	38	8	11	8	3	8	12	.196

BATTING
2B: Cabrera, A (2, Hochevar), Brantley (2, Hochevar).
3B: Kipnis (1, Hochevar).
HR: Cabrera, A (2, 9th inning off Herrera, 0 on, 0 out).
TB: Kotchman; Santana, C; Kipnis 3; Duncan; Choo 2; Cabrera, A 6; Brantley 3; Hannahan.
RBI: Choo 2 (2), Duncan (3), Kipnis 2 (4), Hannahan (5), Brantley (1), Cabrera, A (2).
2-out RBI: Duncan; Kipnis 2; Hannahan; Brantley.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cabrera, A; Duncan; Kipnis; Brantley.
GIDP: Hafner.
Team RISP: 5-for-11.
Team LOB: 6.

BASERUNNING
SB: Choo (2, 2nd base off Hochevar/Quintero), Kipnis (1, 2nd base off Teaford/Quintero).

FIELDING
DP: 3 (Kipnis-Cabrera, A-Kotchman 2, Kipnis-Kotchman).

Cleveland	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Lowe, D(W, 2-0)	6.2	11	3	3	0	2	0	1.98
Sipp(H, 1)	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0	18.00
Smith, J	1.0	1	0	0	1	1	0	2.25
Pestano	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2.45
Totals	9.0	12	3	3	1	5	0	4.22

WP: Lowe, D, Sipp, Hochevar.
Pitches-strikes: Lowe, D 92-59, Sipp 2-1, Smith, J 18-11, Pestano 16-11, Hochevar 70-48, Teaford 71-43, Herrera 15-12.
Groundouts-flyouts: Lowe, D 8-6, Sipp 1-0, Smith, J 1-0, Pestano 1-0, Hochevar 4-2, Teaford 5-3, Herrera 0-1.
Batters faced: Lowe, D 29, Sipp 1, Smith, J 4, Pestano 3, Hochevar 22, Teaford 15, Herrera 4.
Inherited runners-scored: Sipp 2-0.
Umpires: HP: Paul Emmel. 1B: Gary Darling. 2B: Jerry Meals. 3B: Lance Barrett. 
Weather: 66 degrees, overcast.
Wind: 12 mph, R to L.
T: 2:39.
Att: 40,230.
Compiled by MLB Advanced Media