Indians 8, Reds 1: Tribe sweeps Cincy behind Justin Masterson

CLEVELAND — Justin Masterson has been getting his usual lack of run support this season, so he took matters into his own hands Wednesday night at Progressive Field.
Working his finest outing of the year, Masterson required little assistance from his offense. He just so happened to get plenty in an 8-1 victory over the Reds that secured the series sweep for Cleveland.
Masterson (4-6, 3.98 ERA) didn’t allow a run over the first seven innings, allowing his hitters to find their groove against Cincinnati starter Bronson Arroyo.
“He was just dominant the whole game,” Acta said of the right-hander, who tossed the fourth complete game of his career and first of the season. Masterson gave up three hits and struck out nine without a walk. “He pounded the strike zone with that heavy sinker. He was under control the whole time. It was as good as it gets.”
Though it appeared Masterson was on track for another hard-luck start — the game was scoreless for three innings — the Indians bucked the trend with a five-run fourth inning that chased Arroyo and ultimately put away the game.
The big inning was powered by home runs from Johnny Damon and Asdrubal Cabrera. Damon’s two-run shot came with one out, and Cabrera’s three-run homer capped the uprising.
The eight runs were the second-highest total of the season in Masterson’s 15 starts.
“I think it’s nice for them, too,” Masterson said of Indians hitters. “I think sometimes they wear themselves out when they’re not scoring runs for me or anybody. I think it was nice to have a game where we scored quite a few runs and were able to win it easily in a sense.”
The Indians returned the favor for a three-game sweep last week at the Great American Ball Park, maintaining their half-game lead in the Central Division as a result. It was the first time since 1999 the teams met as first-place clubs.
“That’s awesome,” Cabrera said. “They beat us in Cincinnati. We played really good baseball here. (Masterson) did great today. He did a really good job.”
Masterson has maintained his composure over some tough times that began with his conversion to a starting pitcher in 2010. A lack of run support since has not affected him, according to Acta.
“He does a pretty good job of just worrying about what he can control,” Acta said. “We know that he’s had issues with run support in the past, and after the first three innings where it looked like we could score a couple runs and we didn’t do that, he just kept his composure and just kept pounding the strike zone and dominating hitters.
“He does a pretty good job of not letting that bother him and just does his thing, and today was a typical example of that.”
“You gotta keep that kind of even keel as you go about it,” Masterson said. “When it’s down, you gotta stay up. When it’s up, you gotta stay right there and keep fighting.”
A plethora of ground-ball outs from the Reds signaled that Masterson’s trademark sinker was on. And he showed no signs of fatigue as the outing wore on, striking out the side in the ninth.
“He had one of the best sinkers of the year,” Acta said. “His sinker is good just about every outing, but today, it was going down like a bowling ball, really heavy, and guys were swinging over it.
“We feel right now the way he’s thrown the ball his last four outings, we have the guy that we had last year, that every five days, regardless of whose pitching from the other side, we have a very good chance to be in the game.”
Though it wasn’t needed, the Indians scored three more times in the seventh on a bases-clearing double from Lonnie Chisenhall. Cleveland outhit Cincinnati 11-3.
“We had a terrific approach tonight, especially with two strikes,” Acta said. “We had 11 baserunners after two strikes, including two doubles and two homers. After that, it was just Justin.”
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Fan him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.