Indians edge Rox to complete sweep
CLEVELAND -- The empty bottles of Moet & Chandon champagne sat in the Indians clubhouse.The Indians had just held a celebration. It wasn't the kind of celebration they're hoping to have sometime in late September, but if they keep winning as they did in defeating the Rockies, 2-1, here on Thursday night, chilled champagne might get uncorked again.
On this occasion, they were simply celebrating a teammate's success, which in part was theirs as well. Kevin Millwood won the 100th game of his Major League career, and in the process, he extended the Tribe's winning streak to six in a row.
"It's something I've been kind of gearing up for the whole season," said Millwood, making his return to duty after three weeks on the disabled list. "I was so close once the season started, but I'll just enjoy it tonight and get on about my business."
Millwood's business, of course, is pitching, and he put on a display of pitching that served as a reminder of how he'd won 100 games in the big leagues.
In a performance that was more gutsy than dominating, Millwood plowed through five innings in one of his hardest workdays of the season. Nobody can label Millwood's outing an easy one.
"I thought he did an outstanding job," manager Eric Wedge said. "He hadn't been out there in a while, and he had to work his way through that first. But you're never quite sure what to expect when a guy hasn't been out there in a while."
In Millwood's case, maybe you do.
He never let the game get away from him, though he could easily have done so in the first inning. It was a testament to his talent that he escaped the frame without allowing a run.
"That first inning I kind of felt like it was my first time out there," he said.
The rust from not pitching showed as Millwood began the inning by serving up a leadoff single. He struck out the next batter before walking Todd Helton. One out later, Millwood walked Brad Hawpe to load the bases.
With the Rockies poised to take the lead early, Millwood hung tough. He got Ryan Shealy to ground out to short to end the threat.
"He did a great job of working through that first inning," Wedge said. "He just got into his rhythm the rest of the way."
Kevin Millwood / P
Born: 12/24/74
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 220 lbs
Bats: R / Throws: R
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There was no doubt he did that, because the Rockies didn't muster a threat that looked anywhere near this promising. He scattered three more hits over the rest of his night's work before turning the game over to the Indians bullpen.
It was a game that, at the time, could have easily gone another way. For as well as Millwood had pitched, Rockies right-hander Jamey Wright hadn't been someone whom the Indians had pounded around The Jake.
In dissecting the game, Wright (4-6, 5.40 ERA) had one bad inning. It came in the third, and it was a frame that proved the difference in a ballgame where neither team scored runs in bunches.
With the game scoreless, Aaron Boone led off the third with a double. Alex Cora's groundout moved Boone to third base. He scored on Grady Sizemore's single to right field.
With Coco Crisp batting next, Sizemore stole second, and he scored easily when Crisp singled to right field.
"Today, it was a pitching game," Crisp said. "Defense had a great game, as well as pitching."
He was right on both counts, too. Millwood and the bullpen did benefit from defensive plays throughout the night -- great plays that had kept the Rockies from taking the lead.
They did score once in the seventh on Shealy's solo homer off reliever Bobby Howry, and threatened to tie the game in the ninth against closer Bob Wickman.
Crisp, though, made a sliding catch on Jorge Piedra's liner to left with a runner on second and one man out. Wickman followed that by striking out Desi Relaford to seal Millwood's 100th win.
With the win, came the champagne. Millwood and his teammates drank up.
"It's been on ice for a while," he said. "I think [equipment manager] Tony Amato was getting sick of having it around, so good thing we got that out of the way."
Source: http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/
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