LOS ANGELES — For the third straight game, the Cleveland Indians were involved in a one-hit shutout. And
for the second day in a row, they were on the short end.
Michael Bourn was awarded a single in the third inning after umpire Adrian Johnson’s original call was
reversed on a replay challenge by manager Terry Francona. That was all the Indians could get against Dan
Haren in a 1-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night.
Cleveland was unsuccessful against Haren (8-4) after Seattle’s Felix Hernandez stymied them through eight
innings on Sunday.
“I would have liked to be on the winning side of all three,” said Cleveland third baseman Lonnie
Chisenhall, whose single in the fifth inning against Hernandez was the Indians’ only hit following Josh
Tomlin’s complete-game 5-0 victory over the Mariners on Saturday.
“You’ve got to give the pitchers credit. That doesn’t happen a lot,” Chisenhall added. “We usually work
counts, get deep into counts, get hits and put pressure on guys. But we haven’t done that two days in a
row.”
Dodgers shortstop Miguel Rojas made a diving stop of Bourn’s smash behind second base and got the out
call from Johnson before Francona strolled out of the dugout. Bourn then stole second, giving the
Indians two men in scoring position. But Asdrubal Cabrera looked at a third strike.
Had the play on Bourn not been overturned, Haren felt he had enough gas to go two more innings and try
for the Dodgers’ third no-hitter of the season after the gems by Josh Beckett and Clayton Kershaw.
“I didn’t even think about it until I came out of the game and Zack (Greinke) said something like: ‘If
this was last year, you’d have a no-hitter,”’ Haren said after his 103-pitch effort. “I think 2 2/3 was
the longest I’ve had a no-hitter this year, so that was pretty good for me.”
The Dodgers, who held the NL champion Cardinals to just four runs while taking three of four, had runners
at second and third in the fourth inning when Corey Kluber struck out Andre Ethier and retired Juan
Uribe on a flyball.
Ethier came up again in the seventh and led off with an opposite-field triple off the glove of left
fielder Michael Brantley on the warning track. Two outs later, pinch-hitter Hanley Ramirez was
intentionally walked and rookie Clint Robinson worked the count full before smacking a single up the
middle for his first major league hit and RBI.
Kluber (7-6) allowed a run and six hits over 6 2/3 innings and struck out five. The 28-year-old
right-hander, who has spent all four of his big league seasons with the Indians, came in 6-0 with a 2.29
ERA in his six previous interleague starts.
Haren struck out five and walked one on the 11th anniversary of his major league debut, getting through
seven innings for just the third time in 17 starts this season. The right-hander ended a streak of nine
consecutive outings in which he allowed a home run, one shy of his career-worst stretch in 2012.
“It was his ability to control the inside part of the plate,” Chisenhall said. “He got strike one, then
we got a little bit defensive and he was able to get a lot of rollovers.”
Brian Wilson pitched a perfect eighth and Kenley Jansen a 1-2-3 ninth for his 25th save.
The defending NL West champion Dodgers took over sole possession of first place in the division by a
half-game over idle San Francisco. The Giants led them by as many as 9 1/2 games as recently as June 8.
Since then, Los Angeles has gone 15-6 and San Francisco 4-15.
NOTES: Dodgers reliever Chris Perez spent the previous 4 1/2 seasons with Cleveland. Two seasons ago, he
made some disparaging remarks on the record about Indians fans because of the team’s poor attendance —
and felt their wrath numerous times in the aftermath. But he has no regrets. “Everything I said was
true. I didn’t make anything up,” said Perez, who turns 29 years old on Tuesday. “It became a little
more of a distraction for me than I would have liked, but I think the team didn’t let it bother them.
Overall, I think I was more successful there than some fans would like to give me credit for.” …
Cabrera was 0 for 3 against Haren and is 2 for 25 lifetime against the three-time All-Star with eight
strikeouts. … Cleveland’s only other regular-season series against the Dodgers at Los Angeles was in
June 2008, when the Indians took two of three. … A moment of silence was observed in memory of Bobby
Castillo, a nine-year major league pitcher who spent his first five seasons and his final one with the
Dodgers. “Babo,” as he was affectionately called by everyone in the organization since his rookie year
in 1977, died Monday at age 59 from cancer.