A pair of future contributors to the Indians roster acquired in big trades make their Major League debut, as Michael Brantley and Carlos Carrasco play in their first big league games as Cleveland is dealt an 8-5 loss by the Detroit Tigers.
Carrasco, acquired in 2009 from Philadelphia as part of the package for pitcher Cliff Lee, got the start and lasted just three innings, allowing six runs on nine hits, including three home runs. He walked three and struck out three. Detroit put up four in the first when each of the first six batters reached base. A leadoff double was chased by back-to-back home runs. A single and a walk followed before an RBI-single and the Tigers had a 4-1 lead. Detroit added two more in the third on a two-run homer.
Brantley, batting ninth, fared a bit better. Acquired in 2008 from Milwaukee in the CC Sabathia trade, he grounded into a double play in his first MLB at bat. He singled for his first hit in the fifth and would score on a Grady Sizemore double. He lined out in the sixth and singled in the ninth.
The only player in the starting lineup that day who had not been acquired in a trade by Cleveland was starting third baseman Jhonny Peralta.
Also on this date in Tribe history:
1911 – The hidden ball trick aids the Indians big time in the ninth inning as they defeat the Chicago White Sox, 2-1.
1917 – Tris Speaker, while attempting to steal home, is hit in the face by a line drive off of the bat of Joe Evans. He exits the game in the second to get his wound stitched and Detroit manager Hughie Jennings allows the Indians to temporarily replace Speaker with a courtesy fielder until Speaker is patched up. He returns to his spot in center field in the third.
1920 – The Indians reclaim the top spot in the American League, coming back to win 9-5. Chicago, who had been in first, has lost six of their last seven.
1930 – Wes Ferrell wins his 13th straight decision, 9-5, in the second game of a doubleheader against the St. Louis Browns.
1939 – Rico Carty is born in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic.
1942 – The Chicago Tribune reports that Parnell Woods, player/manager of the Cleveland Buckeyes of the Negro American League, and two of his teammates, Gene Bremmer and Sam Jethroe, received invites to try out with the Indians at the beginning of the 1943 campaign.
1952 – The Indians protest, but it will not matter, as they are dealt a 2-1 defeat in the second game of a doubleheader against the St. Louis Browns. Cleveland takes a 4-2 lead in the sixth inning, but rains again interrupt the game and it is unable to be resumed. The game reverts back to the last completed inning, with the Browns up, 2-1. The Indians protest, accusing former owner Bill Veeck of purposely having the grounds crew work slowly, but it is rejected by AL President Will Harridge.
2000 – The first triple play in the history of Jacobs Field happens, but the Indians are on the short end on a controversial play. Baltimore shortstop Melvin Mora allows a Sandy Alomar pop up to drop, throws to second baseman Jerry Hairston, who tags both the runner at second and the runner coming from first. Alomar, believing he was already out on the “infield fly rule” is called out for leaving the base paths to conclude the 6-4-3 triple play. Cleveland wins the game, 5-2.
2002 – Jim Thome, the only player in Indians history to have consecutive 100-walk seasons, does it for the fourth straight season and sixth time of his career in a 7-1 loss to Boston.
2008 – Cliff Lee wins his 20th game of the season, the first Indians pitcher to reach the 20 mark since Gaylord Perry 34 years prior.
2011 – Corey Kluber and Nick Hagadone make their Major League debuts in a 7-0 loss against Oakland. Hagadone relieved starter Fausto Carmona (Roberto Hernandez) in the seventh and allowed three runs on two hits with a walk and a strikeout. Kluber replaced him in the eighth and allowed a walk and two hits while striking out two.
