It is amazing what good pitching can do. It can hide a multitude of offensive sins, and can ease a manager’s job, when he can set up his bullpen, keep his rotation in line, etc.
Yes, today was only a spring training game, but good things happened as the Indians beat the L.A. Angels 2-1. Easy game when the pitching lines up and does its job.
Fausto Carmona went four scoreless innings to move to 3-1 on the spring — giving Carmona 60% of the Tribe’s spring wins. Fausto was followed by Josh Tomlin and Rafael Perez, who keep the Angels off the board through the eighth inning, Tony Sipp closed and got the save, although he did surrender a home run in his inning of work.
The offense didn’t do much, but did enough to break a skid going back to last Sunday in the Cactus League, and moved the Tribe to 5-8. Shin-Soo Choo and Asdrubal Cabrera each drove in a run, and Cabrera had two of Cleveland’s five hits.
The Indians are back at it tomorrow against the Padres, feeling better than they have in days.
Quality pitching — gotta love it.