Wednesday, September 24, 2003
The Tribe's victory tightened up the wild card race.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- The Cleveland Indians scored 12 runs in their final two at-bats and tightened the AL wild card race with a 13-4 win over the stunned Boston Red Sox Saturday night.
Casey Blake's two-run double triggered a seven-run rally in the seventh inning when Cleveland chased Derek Lowe (16-7), who dominated the Indians for six.
Josh Bard hit a leadoff homer off Lowe in the seventh and Cleveland's rookie catcher capped the unexpected inning with a two-run single.
The Indians added five more runs in the eighth, turning what looked like a sure loss into a surprising blowout win.
Boston's loss allowed Seattle to move 11/2 games behind the Red Sox for the wild card with eight games remaining. The Mariners beat Oakland 9-3 Saturday. Blake's crucial hit came shortly after a costly error by second baseman Damian Jackson and a wild pitch by Lowe, who came in 4-0 with eight saves in 23 career games against Cleveland.
Broussard's contribution
Ben Broussard had four RBIs and homered in the fifth off Lowe, who dominated the Indians for six innings before becoming unglued in the seventh. Dave Lee (1-0), acquired by Cleveland in a trade earlier this month with Los Angeles, got his first AL win and first in the majors since Sept. 1, 2001, with San Diego. Trot Nixon hit a solo homer for the Red Sox, who were nine outs away from an easy win when things fell apart.
Lowe, who has owned the Indians in the past, gave up Bard's homer with one out and consecutive singles to Jhonny Peralta and Angel Santos -- Cleveland's No. 8 and 9 hitters -- before getting Coco Crisp to hit a grounder toward second.
Jackson charged and fielded the ball but missed when he tried to tag Santos going to second. Jackson then dropped the ball attempting to hurry a throw to first, loading the bases for Cleveland.
Lowe's wild pitch scored Peralta and Blake followed with his double down the left-field line, giving the Indians a 5-4 lead. Lowe was replaced by Scott Sauerbeck, but Cleveland wasn't done scoring.
The Indians re-loaded the bases on two walks and went ahead 6-4 when Sauerbeck hit Broussard, forcing in a run. Bard then capped the Indians' second-biggest inning this season with a two-run single.
Blake hit another RBI double in the eighth off Scott Williamson and Alex Escobar had a two-run single to make it 11-4.
Lowe gets loss
Lowe lost for the first time in six starts, charged with four earned runs and nine hits in 6 1-3 innings.
Early on, it appeared the right-hander would have little trouble with the Indians.
He coasted through the first three innings, and retired 10 straight before Blake singled in the fourth.
Broussard, though, tied it 1-1 in the fifth with a leadoff homer, his 15th, that snapped a 17-inning scoreless drought for the Indians.
Nixon homered in the second and the Red Sox went up 2-1 in the sixth on Kevin Millar's RBI single. Boston scored twice in the seventh to go up 4-1.
BOSTONCLEVELAND
abrhbiabrhbi
DJcksn 2b4110Crisp cf4200
Merloni 3b5010Blake 3b5233
Grcprr ss4001Gerut lf5020
MRmrz lf3110AEscbr rf4212
DOrtiz dh4010Hafner dh3000
Millar 1b4021VMrtnz dh0200
Nixon rf3111Brssrd 1b4124
Varitek c4110Bard c5123
Kapler cf4021Peralta ss4120
ASntos 2b3110
BPhllps 2b1110
Totals354104Totals38131412
Boston010001200--4
Cleveland00001075x--13
E--DJackson (5). DP--Cleveland 1. LOB--Boston 7, Cleveland 6. 2B--Millar (29), Varitek (31), Blake 2 (35), BPhillips (17). 3B--Broussard (3). HR--Nixon (27), Broussard (15), Bard (8). SB--Gerut (3). CS--Kapler (2).
IPHRERBBSO
Boston
DLowe L,16-76 1-396403
Sauerbeck2-312220
Williamson2-335521
Lyon1-310001
Cleveland
Mulholland662225
Cressend1-342200
DaLee W,1-02-300000
Betancourt100012
Boyd100000
Cressend pitched to 4 batters in the 7th. HBP--by Sauerbeck (Broussard). WP--DLowe, Williamson 2. Umpires--Home, Ed Montague; First, Bruce Dreckman; Second, Brian Runge; Third, Brian Gorman. T--2:51. A--23,242.