Trot Nixon singled in the go-ahead run against his former team and Franklin Gutierrez’s three-run homer capped a seven-run 11th inning as the Cleveland Indians beat Boston, 13-6, evening their American League Championship Series after two games.
Gutierrez drove in four runs, Jhonny Peralta clubbed a three-run homer and had four RBI for the Indians in a game that ended after 1:30 a.m. (et). Grady Sizemore added a solo blast for the Indians, who haven’t been to the World Series since 1997, and came back from a 10-3 defeat on Friday by sending 10 men to the plate in the huge 11th inning.
Victor Martinez and Peralta each had three hits in Cleveland’s 17-hit attack.
Tom Mastny (1-0) threw one inning to get the win, while Eric Gagne (0-1) faltered as the Red Sox were dealt their first loss of this postseason.
Gagne, Javier Lopez and Jon Lester combined to allow five hits and seven runs.
Manny Ramirez hit a two-run homer and Mike Lowell followed him with a drive over the wall in left in the fifth inning for Boston. Both players had three RBI. It was Ramirez’s 23rd career postseason homer, moving him ahead of former New York Yankees star Bernie Williams for the all-time lead.
David Ortiz tied a playoff record by reaching base safely in 10 consecutive at-bats in the postseason. That equaled the mark set by Billy Hatcher with the Cincinnati Reds in 1990.
Both starting pitchers exited early. Fausto Carmona allowed four hits and four runs over four-plus innings for the Indians, while Curt Schilling was lifted after surrendering nine hits and five runs over 4 2/3 frames.
Game 3 is Monday night at Jacobs Field. Daisuke Matsuzaka is slated to pitch for Boston, while Jake Westbrook heads to the mound for the Indians.
“We took home field advantage back,” Cleveland’s Ryan Garko said. “We’re going back in front of our fans. It’s huge, especially with Curt Schilling on the mound. We know how good he is and what a great postseason pitcher he is. We knew it would be a tough test tonight so it will be a nice plane ride home.”
Gagne fanned Casey Blake to start the 11th, but Sizemore singled and Asdrubal Cabrera walked. Nixon then pinch-hit for Josh Barfield, and singled to center off Lopez, Boston’s seventh pitcher of the night.
“We were really hoping he’d make an out,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “We’re trying to have an answer for whatever they did, and both teams had used a lot of players. Under the circumstances for how many pitchers we’d gone through, we were pretty happy to have a left-on-left in that situation. It didn’t work very well.”
For Nixon it was some sort of revenge, as he played for the Red Sox from 1996-2006 before joining the Indians.
“I felt good going to the plate,” Nixon said. “I was excited to finally get in there. It was 1:30 in the morning. It was gratifying for me because I’ve struggled at times against left-handers.”
Lopez then uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Cleveland’s eighth run. Martinez was intentionally walked and Garko singled to center to plate pinch-runner Jason Michaels.
Lester then came in, but the rally continued as Peralta doubled down the left- field line for another run. After Kenny Lofton flied out, Gutierrez crushed a ball over the Green Monster.
Sizemore and Martinez doubled in the opening inning, but the Red Sox went ahead 3-1 in the third. They loaded the bases on a single by Coco Crisp, a one-out walk to Dustin Pedroia and an infield hit by Ortiz with two down. Ramirez then saw four straight balls, marking the third time in two games he’s walked with the bases full. Lowell followed with a two-run single to center on an 0-2 pitch.
The Indians came right back to grab a 4-3 lead in the next inning on Peralta’s homer. Martinez and Garko singled with one out before Peralta laced a pitch from Schilling over the wall in center field.
“I went to the pitch I wanted to go to. I threw the pitch I wanted to throw, I hit my spot and he hit a home run,” Schilling said. “I’m not used to that one.”
Sizemore homered to right with one out in the fifth, but Boston went ahead with back-to-back blasts from Ramirez and Lowell in the bottom of the inning. Kevin Youkilis singled, and with Rafael Perez pitching, Ortiz broke up a potential double play, ending his streak. Ramirez then clubbed an 0-2 pitch over the wall in right, into the Boston bullpen.
Lowell then drilled a ball over the high wall in left.
The 6-5 lead was short-lived though as the Indians put two men on with nobody out in the sixth. Manny Delcarmen walked Peralta and Lofton singled to put runners at the corners. Gutierrez’s groundout tied the game, but the Indians failed with the bases loaded as Hideki Okajima got Travis Hafner to line out to second to end the inning.
Neither team had a hit in the seventh or eighth innings, but both teams failed with a man in scoring position in the ninth. Hafner singled with two outs and pinch-runner Barfield stole second, but Jonathan Papelbon got Garko to hit into a force play.
Rafael Betancourt allowed a two-out single to Pedroia, and pinch-runner Jacoby Ellsbury swiped second. After fouling off six straight pitches, Youkilis flied out to a sliding Sizemore in left-center field.
“It’s just one of those things. You do everything right and sometimes it doesn’t pay off,” Youkilis said. “There’s a lot of luck involved in this game. You get on top of that ball just a little bit more, you get on top of it. You can sit here and be the Monday morning quarterback.”
