Shoppach slams in Tribe victory

By PAUL HOYNES

Chicago — Catcher Kelly Shoppach, who hasn’t helped himself much with the bat this season, hit a grand slam and drove in five runs Thursday afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field. The slam was the first of his career and the five RBIs were a career high.

Shoppach entered the game hitting .196 and in a 10-for-56 slump. He’s the ultimate realist. A grip-it-and-rip-it hitter who makes few apologies for the way he swings the bat.

“It’s just one game,” said Shoppach, who has lost catching time to Victor Martinez because of the slump. “If I punch out four times in my next game, you’re going to be saying, ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’ ”

Shoppach’s slam came on the first pitch he saw from Clayton Richard (3-3, 5.42) and gave the Indians a 6-2 lead in the second inning. Shoppach drew a bases-loaded walk in the third to give him five RBIs as the Indians won for just the fifth time in the past 20 games.

After Shoppach’s bases-loaded walk, the Indians added two more runs in the third on Asdrubal Cabrera’s double play grounder and Martinez’s RBI single for a 9-2 lead. Rookie left-hander David Huff couldn’t handle the big lead and didn’t make it through the fifth to qualify for the victory.

Huff gave up four two-out runs in the third and two more in the fifth, starting with A.J. Pierzynski’s leadoff homer, to make it 9-8.

“It’s very frustrating,” said Huff.

But the bullpen and Ryan Garko protected the lead. Garko, who had four hits, made it 10-8 with an RBI single to score Jhonny Peralta from third against Octavio Dotel.

Jose Veras relieved Huff in the fifth to start the relay race to Kerry Wood. Veras, Tony Sipp (1-0), Rafael Betancourt, just off the disabled list, and Joe Smith delivered the lead to Wood, who earned the first four-out save of his career. He relieved Smith with two outs and one on in the eighth, and retired Pierzynski on a fly ball.

In the ninth, he gave up a one-out infield single to Chris Getz, but struck out Gordon Beckham and Scott Podsednik for his 11th save.