Things are starting to get a little bit complicated for the Cleveland Indians, as the team suffered yet another loss on Sunday in their series finale with the lowly Minnesota Twins.
Cleveland starter Justin Masterson was touched up for a quick run in his first inning, and proceeded to give up two more over his next three frames. Masterson managed to slide through six innings with only three earned runs on the board however, and righted the ship well enough to leave the game with his team trailing by just one run heading into the seventh. Still, the loss dropped the 6-foot-6 hurler to a disappointing 2-5 on the year.
Sharp for much of the 2012 campaign, Cleveland reliever Nick Hagadone took the ball from Masterson and quickly gave up a pair of runs on RBI hits from Minnesota's Josh Willingham and Ryan Doumit that ended up putting the game away. Aside from three unearned runs due to a trio of errors from Minnesota fielders, the Indians literally had no answer for 25-year-old Twins lefty Scott Diamond.
With a nine-game road trip about to kick off on Tuesday in Detroit, the Indians will need to re-focus quickly if they plan to avoid dropping further off the AL Central pace. With the Tigers also in a precarious position at the moment, Tuesday's series opener with starter Ubaldo Jimenez on the hill could prove pivotal for both teams.
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