AMERICAN LEAGUE Bullpen meltdown nearly costs Lee, yet Tribe survives

Wednesday's 6-4 win was Cleveland's 1,000th victory all-time over the Red Sox.
BOSTON (AP) -- Cliff Lee gave the Cleveland Indians bullpen a lead it could protect -- barely.
Lee pitched six innings to improve his record to 4-0, and Jody Gerut had three hits Wednesday night to help Cleveland beat Boston 6-4.
David Riske and Rick White each pitched a scoreless inning, and Rafael Betancourt struck out three in the ninth, but not before giving up two runs.
"Raffie got himself in some trouble in the ninth, but he worked himself out of it," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "The bottom line is, we won the ball game."
The Indians have lost 11 games in which they were leading or tied after seven innings.
Takes the blame
"I'm the No. 1 guy to blame in this bullpen," said Riske, whose ERA improved to 11.37 from 12.34 after the outing. "Whatever happens in the future, happens. I'm going to tell myself this is a turning point."
Tim Laker homered for Cleveland, which took advantage of three Boston errors to win for just the second time in eight games. The Indians, with a $34.5 million payroll that is dwarfed by Boston's $125 million, won just their second series of the season but took the season series with Boston 4-3.
It was the Indians' 1,000th victory over the Red Sox since 1901.
"These guys had our number this year," Boston center fielder Johnny Damon said. "They struggled against everybody else, but they sure had our number."
Lee gave up two runs on six hits and three walks while striking out eight. He has not allowed more than three earned runs in any of his seven starts this season.
Tim Wakefield (2-2) allowed a season-high six earned runs on eight hits, a walk and hit a batter. He struck out six in six innings before leaving with a 6-2 deficit.
It stayed that way until the ninth, when Bill Mueller led off with a double and, one out later, pinch-hitter Brian Daubach hit an RBI double to make it 6-3.
With two outs, Damon followed with a bouncer up the middle that caused trouble. Second baseman Ronnie Belliard and shortstop Omar Vizquel watched it pass between them, allowing Daubach to score.
Check swing strikeout
But Betancourt struck out Mark Bellhorn on a check swing to end it.
The Indians had scored two runs in the first inning in each of the first six games against Boston this season. On Wednesday night, they got just one -- on consecutive singles by Vizquel, Gerut and Alex Escobar.
Manny Ramirez hit an RBI double in the first to tie it, but Cleveland took the lead in the second.
Ben Broussard walked, stole second and took third when Wakefield's pickoff attempt went into center field. Broussard then scored on Matt Lawton's single.
Gerut tripled and scored in the third to make it 3-1.
Lawton was hit by a pitch to lead off the fifth, then he stole second and took third when catcher Doug Mirabelli's throw went into center. He scored on Vizquel's single to make it 4-1.
Laker homered after Lou Merloni doubled to make it 6-1 in the sixth. Mirabelli hit an RBI double in the bottom half, driving home Kevin Millar.