Indians’ bad baserunning is costly in loss

Photo by: Mark Duncan

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo

Boston Red Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis, right, tags out Cleveland Indians' Orlando Cabrera at third base in the second inning of a baseball game Tuesday, May 24, 2011, in Cleveland. Cabrera tried to advance from first on an RBI single by Ezequiel Carrera.

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

The Indians ran into trouble, and it wasn’t just Josh Beckett.

Bad baserunning decisions combined with a strong outing by Beckett on Tuesday night gave the Boston Red Sox a 4-2 win over the Indians, who couldn’t muster enough late-inning magic to overcome their mistakes as they lost for just the fifth time at home.

“We didn’t do a very good job of taking care of our own 27 outs,” manager Manny Acta said. “When you’re facing a guy like Beckett, you have to make sure he works for every single one of those outs. We gave away a few on the bases. We’re a very good team, but not that good to play with only 23 or 24 outs.”

Beckett (4-1) picked up his first regular-season win at Progressive Field — where he pitched an October gem four years ago — as the Red Sox snapped a five-game losing streak in Cleveland. Boston has won nine of 11 overall.

Cleveland had its chances against the right-hander, but had runners thrown out in four consecutive innings, allowing Beckett to stay out of trouble and keep his pitch count down.

The Indians, who have won eight times in their final at-bat at home, dropped to 19-5 in their ballpark.

“We always feel like we’re going to string something together and come back,” said Orlando Cabrera, who was thrown out at third in the second inning. “We feel like that every day. It just didn’t happen tonight.”

Beckett allowed one run and five hits in 62/3 innings for his only non-postseason win in Cleveland. He won here in the 2007 ALCS, pitching eight dominant innings in Game 5 as the Red Sox kept their season alive and eventually won the series.

Jason Varitek hit a two-run homer in the seventh off Fausto Carmona (3-5), and Jonathan Papelbon got his ninth save as the Red Sox continued to make up ground in the standings.

Adrian Gonzalez hit an RBI double for Boston, a league-best 15-7 in May.

Travis Buck homered in the ninth for the Indians, whose aggressiveness on the basepaths backfired.

Cabrera was thrown out trying to go from first to third on an RBI single to end the second; Varitek gunned down would-be base stealers at second in the third and fourth; and Matt LaPorta got doubled off first for the final out in the fifth.

“He lost track of how many outs there were,” Acta said. “Those are the kind of mistakes we can’t afford to make.”