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Saturday, September 01, 2007

Indians Rally for 8-5 Win Over White Sox Send a link to a friend

[September 01, 2007] CLEVELAND (AP) -- Casey Blake's three-run double capped Cleveland's six-run eighth inning as the Indians rallied for an 8-5 win Friday night over the Chicago White Sox, whose sorry season keeps getting worse.

The Indians did nothing against starter Mark Buehrle for five innings and trailed 5-0 in the sixth before coming back against Chicago's awful bullpen - with two outs - to extend their winning streak to a season-high seven.

Cleveland has gone 12-3 since Aug. 15 and entered the weekend leading the second-place Detroit Tigers by 4 1/2 games.

Down 5-2, the Indians got an RBI single from Victor Martinez off Mike Myers. Mike MacDougal (1-5) came on and appeared to get an inning-ending groundout, but Ryan Garko's hopper toward Juan Uribe hopped over the shortstop's head, bringing Cleveland within 5-4.

After Jhonny Peralta walked to load the bases, pinch-hitter Kenny Lofton, whose walk with the bases loaded in the ninth inning brought in the winning run on Thursday night against Seattle, drew a four-pitch walk from MacDougal to force in the tying run.

Blake went to a full count and the runners were moving when he slapped his double over the bag at first.

The White Sox have lost 10 straight road games for the first time since 1977.

Aaron Fultz (4-2) pitched two scoreless innings and Rafael Betancourt, filling in for overworked closer Joe Borowski, worked the ninth for his first save since Sept. 28 last season.

In Chicago's fateful eighth, MacDougal threw 25 pitches - only 7 for strikes.

No wonder manager Ozzie Guillen decided to stop protecting his players and began ripping them earlier this week.

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Buehrle was in line to win for the first time in five starts before his bullpen let him down. He allowed two runs and four hits in seven innings.

The left-hander threw a no-hitter against the Rangers in April and looked like he might flirt with another one. He cruised through Cleveland's lineup the first time, retiring 11 straight before Travis Hafner singled to right with two outs in the fourth.

Josh Fields had two RBIs for the White Sox.

Chicago scored three runs in the sixth off Indians starter Fausto Carmona, who hadn't given up four runs or more in any start since June 27.

Down 5-0, the Indians finally put something together in the sixth off Buehrle, who had limited them to just one hit through five. Franklin Gutierrez singled in Cleveland's first run and the other scored on a fielder's choice by Martinez.

Notes:@ Home plate umpire John Hirschbeck was struck on the right knee by a foul tip in the sixth inning. Hirschbeck, 52, laid flat on his back for several minutes in obvious pain before being checked by an Indians trainer. He stayed in the game, and in the seventh he was hit by a foul tip on his padded right shoulder. ... Indians 2B Josh Barfield, benched earlier this month for rookie Asdrubal Cabrera, went 1-for-2 in his first start since Aug. 15. Cabrera made a sensational play up the middle to end the game, stabbing a grounder and making a leaping throw to nip A.J. Pierzynski.

[Associated Press; By TOM WITHERS]

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