Victor-y: Martinez lifts Tribe, 4-3

Reliever Masa Kobayashi earned his first major league win.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Masa Kobayashi dropped his head, closed his eyes as though in pain and tried to jog his memory.

Ten years ago, the reliever earned his first professional win while pitching for Chiba Lotte in Japan.

Which team did he beat?

“I can’t remember,” Kobayashi said through his translator. “But I’ll never forget beating the Yankees.”

Kobayashi got his first major league win when Victor Martinez’s bases-loaded single scored Grady Sizemore from third with one out in the ninth inning and the Cleveland Indians won their season-high fifth straight, 4-3 over New York Saturday.

Martinez slapped a pitch from Ross Ohlendorf (0-1) into left to bring home Sizemore, who moments earlier came up limping while running the bases. But Cleveland’s speedy center fielder scored easily after Martinez came through with his first career walk-off hit.

“When Victor came up,” outfielder David Dellucci said, “we knew something good was going to happen.”

Martinez’s hit was about the only positive thing to go Cleveland’s way in the final few innings. The Indians blew a three-run lead on a ball Dellucci missed with a dive and turned into a three-run triple; they lined into an inning-ending double play with runners at second and third; and manager Eric Wedge was ejected on a bad call at second base in the eighth inning.

Still, the Indians prevailed.

“We never felt like we were going to come up empty handed,” Dellucci said. “When you have confidence, good things can happen.”

Kobayashi (1-0) pitched two innings, escaping a jam in the ninth. One of Japan’s premier closers, Kobayashi signed with the Indians in November and is beginning to show why Cleveland outbid several other teams and gave him a two-year, $6.25 million contract.

“It was just a matter of time for him to get comfortable,” said Martinez.

Johnny Damon had four hits, Derek Jeter went 3-for-5 and Jorge Posada hit a three-run, pinch-hit triple for the Yankees, who dropped their third straight and now trail not only rival Boston but also Baltimore and Tampa Bay in the AL East.

Sizemore singled with one out in the ninth off Ohlendorf but then twisted his right ankle as he pulled up at second on Dellucci’s base hit to right. Sizemore stayed in and he quickly moved to third on a wild pitch to Travis Hafner. The Yankees then put Cleveland’s DH on intentionally before Martinez lined a 2-1 pitch into left.

Wedge was ejected in the eighth for arguing a missed call. TV replays showed that Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano never had possession of the ball on a force play, and Wedge came storming out of the dugout to argue before getting tossed by second base umpire Derryl Cousins.