Slumping Peralta gets game-winner

Texas set a team record with 19 strikeouts.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Jhonny Peralta singled home the winning run with one out in the 11th inning to give the Cleveland Indians an 8-7 victory Wednesday night over the Texas Rangers, who struck out a team-record 19 times.
Victor Martinez doubled down the right-field line to open the 11th off Willie Eyre (1-1) and took third on a single up the middle by Kelly Shoppach. After Jason Michaels struck out, Peralta, in a 3-for-36 (.091) slump, grounded a single just out of the reach of diving third baseman Hank Blalock to drive in Martinez for the win.
Fernando Cabrera (1-0), the last of seven Cleveland pitchers, struck out five over two innings for the win.
The teams combined for 32 strikeouts. The Rangers' Blalock and Brad Wilkerson fanned four times apiece and Grady Sizemore went down on strikes three times for Cleveland.
Indians starter C.C. Sabathia fanned eight over six innings, leaving with a 6-5 lead.
But Joe Borowski blew a save for the first time in 10 chances. The right-hander yielded an RBI double to Michael Young with two outs in the ninth that tied it at 7.
Sammy Sosa and Ian Kinsler each had three RBIs for Texas.
Opening the gates
Second baseman Kinsler's error helped Cleveland score four unearned runs in a five-run second inning off Vicente Padilla.
With the bases loaded and one out, Shin-Soo Choo sent a grounder to Kinsler, who tried to tag Peralta running from first, but missed. Kinsler then threw wildly to first, sending Choo to second and Peralta to third as Ryan Garko and Trot Nixon scored to make it 2-0.
Peralta scored on a groundout by Josh Barfield and Grady Sizemore singled home Choo. Sizemore then stole second and scored on a single up the middle by Casey Blake.
The five-run inning was Cleveland's largest since the Indians scored five in the first inning of the season opener April 2 in Chicago.
Travis Hafner's RBI single in the fourth made it 6-0.
Kinsler keyed the Rangers' comeback with a three-run homer in the sixth, his eighth of the season. Sosa added a two-run double high off the left-field wall later in the sixth. Rangers manager Ron Washington argued with third-base umpire Dale Scott that it was a homer. TV replays showed the ball hit the yellow home-run line atop the wall.
About an inch higher, and Sosa would have become the first player to homer in 44 major-league stadiums. He is tied with Ken Griffey Jr. and Fred McGriff for the record. Jacobs Field is one of three current ballparks in which Sosa is homerless.
Padilla, who struck out the side on 13 pitches in the first, gave up five hits and two earned runs over four innings. The right-hander walked three, hit a batter, and struck out four.
Choo's two-out RBI single in the seventh made it 7-5.
Sosa's two-out RBI single off Rafael Betancourt in the eighth got Texas within 7-6.
Notes
The Rangers' six straight hits in the sixth were a season high. ... Hafner, who went 1-for-4 with a walk and hit by pitch, has reached base safely in 23 of his last 35 plate appearances. ... C Gerald Laird's single broke a 1-for-34 slump.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.