Indians and Reds Complete Home Sweeps

Indians closer Chris Perez celebrates another save. (David Richard)

The Cleveland Indians don't care how many people come to watch them play. Right now, they are too busy winning. This afternoon the Indians completed a sweep of their division rival Detroit Tigers. Today's game featured a pitchers duel between Tigers ace Justin Verlander and Indians young stud Justin Masterson. Verlander only gave up a solo home run to Shin-Soo Choo and a RBI single to Jose Lopez in eight innings of work, but he only got limited support from a floundering Tigers offense. Masterson didn't dominant the Tigers (gave up five hits and had five walks), but he limited the damage, only allowing one run. He gave the 2-1 lead to setup man Vinnie Pestano, who earned his 12th hold of the season. Closer Chris Perez shut the door in the ninth, picking up his 16th save of the season. After criticizing the Indians' fans, Perez backed up his talk with a perfect save in each of the three games in the series. Winners of eight of their last ten, the first-place Indians (26-18) now have a 3 1/2-game lead over the White Sox and a 6-game lead over the Tigers in the AL Central.

Rookie Devin Mesoraco hits first career grand slam. (Al Behrman)

The Cincinnati Reds powered their way to a sweep of the Atlanta Braves. In their series opener, the Reds hit four solo home runs, including three in a row, to win 4-1. During Tuesday night's 4-3 win, Brandon Phillips went yard twice and had three RBIs. Last night, Todd Frazier hit a walk-off solo shot to propel the Reds to the 2-1 win. Tonight's finale saw rookie catcher Devin Mesoraco cap the series sweep off in style. The Reds were down 2-1 in the sixth, but had the bases loaded. That's when Mesoraco connected for his first career grand slam. The Reds pitching definitely deserves credit as well. They held the Braves to only eight runs in the four-game series. The Reds closer-by-committee worked to perfection. Sean Marshall, Arolids Chapman, and Logan Ondrusek each picked by a hold and a save during the sweep. The Reds (25-19) now have won six games in a row, which puts them in first place in the NL Central following a loss by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Two Ohio teams completed home sweeps tonight. Both are unexpectedly in first place in their respective divisions, but absolutely deserve it. They are playing complete team baseball. It will be interesting to see if they can keep it going the rest of the season.