Chris Perez puts exclamation point on amazing week

CLEVELAND, Ohio — When Chris Perez stood on the mound in the ninth inning, he felt it.

The Tribe closer knew he was three outs away from something special, three outs away from his team sweeping three games from the Detroit Tigers.

"I thought about how we were so close to beating Verlander," said Perez after he saved the Tribe's 2-1 victory over Detroit.

Verlander is Justin Verlander, both the American League MVP and Cy Young Award winner last year. Verlander is a guy who entered the day 9-1 with a 2.89 ERA in his last 12 starts against the Tribe.

In the eighth inning, Verlander was throwing pitches that went from 98 to 102 mph – and those were pitches 110 and above for the game – yet Perez was in position to wrap up this game in Wahoo red, white and blue with three more outs.

Perez also thought about how Justin Masterson had held the Tigers to one run in seven innings. And how Shin-Soo Choo said hello to Verlander's third pitch of the game with an outrageous 457-foot homer into the second deck in right field.

"I'm a guy with one pitch," said Masterson. "He [Verlander] has four Hall of Fame pitches."

Perez so wanted this game for Masterson, who matched Verlander pitch-for-pitch, if not mile-for-mile on the radar gun.

Perez also thought about Michael Brantley slapping a single, stealing second base. He scored on a superb single to right field by Jose Lopez, who found a way not to be overpowered by Verlander.

There also was Lopez bobbling a grounder at third base, yet recovering in time to throw out a Tiger runner at home plate. There was a superb 6-4-3 double play pulled off by the Tribe, and there was Vinnie Pestano pitching a scoreless eighth inning for the third time in three days.

"I was sitting in the bullpen, just watching us playing a great game," said Perez.

And he didn't want to blow it.

Not on this day, against this team and in front of this crowd of 23,622 – which was standing and stomping and screaming and clapping as Perez entered the game in the top of the ninth.

"You can feel something special happening here," said Perez. "These fans have been great to me. I'll never forget this week."

It was last weekend when Perez ripped the fans for a lack of support and a general negative attitude. He feared a severe backlash, but discovered more support than slams from fans. At the ballpark, he was greeted with standing ovations in all three games against Detroit.

With the ball in his hands and the game on his broad shoulders, he didn't want to let anyone down. Not teammates, not the fans, not himself. He knew the impact of his two days of comments about the Tribe having baseball's lowest attendance, and that some critics would be hoping he'd fail.

"There was some extra pressure," he admitted. "But I also think what happened brought extra energy. I knew I had to do my job in these games."

And he did it, 1-2-3.

Not 1-2-3 innings, but 1-2-3 saves in three games against the defending Central champions.

Suddenly, the Indians are 15-9 in May, and were 6-2 on this homestand. They lead the Tigers by six games and are 26-18.

They are playing beautiful baseball – what Manny Acta and others call "Wahoo Baseball." They don't make errors, they are 10-2 in one-run games. They get solid starting pitching and reliable relief work. Perez and Pestano have been so dominating in the eighth and ninth innings, that the Tribe is 20-1 when it has a lead after seven.

"It's building here," said Perez. "ESPN can talk about the Yankees and Red Sox, we'll do our thing."

And they are doing it very, very well.


(cleveland.com)