Home run, double play in ninth rescue Indians

Victor Martinez hit a three-run homer to lift the Tribe past the Nationals 4-3.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Victor Martinez hit a three-run homer to straight-away center field in the top of the ninth, and the Cleveland Indians ended the game with an unusual double play in a 4-3 victory over the Washington Nationals on Saturday night.

Martinez hit Chad Cordero’s pitch over the 410-foot mark, ending 17 innings of offensive doldrums for the Indians against the Nationals pitching staff.

Cleveland scored only one run in Friday night’s loss and appeared on course to do the same on Saturday until the big three-run ninth.

But the Nationals almost pulled it out in the bottom of the ninth against Cleveland closer Joe Borowski before running themselves out of the inning.

Brian Schneider led off with a single to center. After Brandon Watson popped to the catcher trying to bunt, Nook Logan doubled to left-center, advancing Schneider to third. Cristian Guzman was then intentionally walked to load the bases, bringing up Felipe Lopez.

Lopez hit a sharp grounder back to Borowski, who threw home to force Schneider. Catcher Kelly Shoppach then alertly noticed that Logan had been overaggressive when rounding third. Shoppach threw to third baseman Casey Blake to complete the 1-2-5 double play.

Mastny gets win

Tom Mastny (5-2) pitched the eighth inning to get the victory, and Borowski was credited with his 21st save despite the shaky ninth.

The Indians were trailing 3-1 when Franklin Gutierrez and Blake both singled to left with none out in the top of the ninth. That set up Martinez, who hit his 14th homer and has 62 RBIs.

It was only the second blown save for Cordero since he returned from the bereavement list following the death of his grandmother last month. Cordero had converted eight of nine opportunities and had an ERA of 0.92 in his last 19 games before Saturday.

Cleveland’s win keeps the Indians one game behind first-place Detroit in the AL Central.

Matt Chico allowed one run over six innings for the Nationals, following the worst start of his young career with one of his best, giving up four hits with three walks and three strikeouts. The rookie left-hander, the only member of the Nationals rotation not to miss a turn this season, made his only mistake when he grooved a first-pitch fastball to Grady Sizemore for a home run to lead off the sixth.

Paul Byrd pitched a solid 62⁄3 innings for the Indians, allowing only a manufactured run in the third, Dmitri Young’s RBI hit in the sixth, and a run that scored on reliever Rafael Perez’s wild pitch in the seventh. Byrd allowed seven hits, walked one and struck out four.