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Indians-Yankees Preview

May 30, 2010 - 12:15 AM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Cleveland (17-29) at New York (29-19), 1:05 p.m. EDT

Mother Nature prevented the New York Yankees' A.J. Burnett from continuing his last start, but the result was exactly what he needed.

Winless in his last 16 outings, Cleveland Indians starter Justin Masterson might need a victory Sunday at Yankee Stadium just to keep his spot in the rotation.

A mismatch on paper, Burnett and Masterson will oppose each other as Cleveland and New York continue their four-game holiday weekend series.

After going 4-0 with a 1.99 ERA in his first six starts of 2010, Burnett (5-2, 3.55 ERA) gave up 16 earned runs and went 0-2 in his next three outings. The right-hander bounced back Tuesday and had his best start in three weeks, striking out five and allowing three hits in five scoreless innings at Minnesota, but the game was suspended due to rain. The Yankees (29-20) completed the 1-0 victory Wednesday afternoon.

"He attacked the strike zone and got a lot of ground-ball outs," manager Joe Girardi told the Yankees' official website. "When he was going good, that's what he was doing. I would have liked to have seen him continue."

Burnett would have too, but will instead try to maintain that same form against the Indians (17-30), who will once again hope for a better effort from Masterson (0-5, 6.13) in what may be his last chance.

The right-hander allowed five runs and nine hits in four innings of Monday's 7-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox, dropping his 11th straight decision since a victory against the Los Angeles Angels on Aug. 20.

"We'll see (if he's dropped from the rotation)," Cleveland manager Manny Acta said. "... Up to now, he's still starting for us."

Masterson, 0-10 with a 6.53 ERA in his last 14 road starts, receives among the lowest run support in the AL - 2.87 per game. The Cleveland offense performed much better than that Saturday.

Trailing 10-4 in the fifth inning following Alex Rodriguez's RBI single, Cleveland scored seven times in the seventh and once in the eighth for a 13-11 win that took 4 hours, 22 minutes to complete. It was the team's highest scoring output of the season, but the Indians were more concerned with the health of starting pitcher David Huff, who was hit in the head by a line drive from Rodriguez in the third inning.

Huff was face down on the mound for several minutes before getting carted off the field and taken to a local hospital, where a CT scan was negative.

"He's doing well, we'll find out more (Sunday)," Acta said.

Robinson Cano will try to help the Yankees bounce back as he attempts to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. Cano, who is batting .451 with 14 RBIs during that run, is 4 for 7 lifetime against Masterson. Left-handed hitters are batting .386 versus Masterson this season.

Rodriguez went 2 for 4 with three RBIs on Saturday, driving in his first runs in eight games.

Cleveland designated hitter Travis Hafner got Saturday off, but has reached base safely in 19 consecutive games and will likely return to the lineup Sunday. Hafner is 5 for 14 with a homer lifetime against Burnett.

Despite Saturday's loss, New York is 24-11 at home versus Cleveland since the beginning of the 2001 season.