Gerut's grand slam lifts Tribe to win
The rookie had three of Cleveland's 17 hits.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Four runs had already crossed home plate when rookie Jody Gerut came up in the second inning with one goal in mind: to keep 'em coming.
"I was just trying to keep the party going," he said.
Did he ever.
Gerut cranked up the volume in Jacobs Field by connecting for his first grand slam, highlighting Cleveland's eight-run second inning Saturday night and powering the Indians to a 9-2 win over the Minnesota Twins.
Gerut's shot off Kyle Lohse (6-9) capped the Indians' biggest inning this season.
And for one night, Cleveland's young lineup looked more like the ones that routinely dominated AL pitchers the past decade.
"I don't remember the last time we had an inning like that," said Travis Hafner, who had three hits. "That's an example right there of the team we need to be."
Billy Traber (5-5) made the huge, early lead stand up by holding the Twins to one earned run and six hits in 61/3 innings. The rookie left-hander is 5-1 in six starts at home this season.
2-8 since break
The Indians improved to just 2-8 since the All-Star break, and slowed down the Twins, who had finally crawled back to .500 by winning seven of nine in the second half.
Cleveland's onslaught was helped by some unusually sloppy fielding by the Twins, who made three errors before they recorded an out in the second.
"We shot ourselves in the foot," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We didn't execute. Fundamentally, we were terrible. That's not normal, and that's what's most disappointing. We lost our composure out there, and that led to one ugly inning."
Minnesota entered ranked No. 2 in the AL in fielding percentage, but miscues by right fielder Dustan Mohr, Lohse and first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz allowed the Indians to take a 4-2 lead and load the bases with one out for Gerut.
Gerut, one of the Indians' most promising youngsters and budding stars, then lifted a 1-0 pitch into the right-field seats for his 13th homer to make it 8-2.
"I certainly wasn't trying to hit it out of the park," Gerut said. "It wasn't like he [Lohse] was pitching bad. He had good stuff out there."
Lohse gave up five straight hits -- a double, two bloops and two bunts -- and the Twins kicked, fumbled and threw the ball around in the second to set up Gerut's slam.
Lohse, now winless in his last eight starts, was tagged for seven earned runs in just 12/3 innings.
"That's probably the worst inning of my life," Lohse said. "It kept getting worse."
The Twins took advantage of second baseman Angel Santos' error and scored twice in the top of the inning on consecutive RBI singles from Chris Gomez and Cristian Guzman.
Guzman's single could have scored two, but Indians center fielder Milton Bradley threw out Mohr at home. Catcher Victor Martinez made a nice play, too, diving across the plate to slap his tag as Mohr slid by.
"That play and Jody's slam were the biggest plays of the game," Hafner said.
Traber gave up four singles in the second, but only two over the next 41/3 innings, retiring 14 of the final 16 he faced. He walked none and struck out six.
Although he had a huge lead, Traber said he never allowed himself to get too comfortable.
"You have to pitch like it's a close ballgame," he said. "I learned that when I was 16. When your team scores a lot of runs, you have to go out there the next inning and put up a zero."
MINNESOTACLEVELAND
abrhbiabrhbi
ShStwrt dh4010Crisp lf5121
Rivas 2b4000Blake 3b5010
Mntkw 1b4000Gerut dh5134
THnter cf4000Brdley cf5120
LeCroy c4100Hafner 1b4130
JJones lf3110Srensen 2b1000
Prieto ph1000Ldwick rf4121
Mohr rf4020VMrtnz c4121
Gomez 3b3011JMcDld ss4110
CGzmn ss2011ASntos 2b4211
Totals33262Totals419178
Minnesota020000000--2
Cleveland08000001x--9
E--Mientkiewicz (3), Mohr (5), Lohse (1), ASantos (1). DP--Minnesota 1. LOB--Minnesota 5, Cleveland 8. 2B--Mohr (17), Bradley (31), THafner (10). 3B--ASantos (1). HR--Gerut (13). SB--CGuzman (12).
IPHRERBBSO
Minnesota
Lohse L,6-91 2-388703
Mays691102
Rincon1-300000
Cleveland
Traber W,5-56 1-362106
Boyd1 2-300011
Betancourt100001
Umpires--Home, Lance Barksdale; First, Gary Cederstrom; Second, Mark Wegner; Third, Chuck Meriwether. T--2:28. A--25,077.