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Martinez homer pushes Indians past Red Sox
Jake Westbrook pitched six more shutout innings and Victor Martinez hit a two-run homer off Curt Schilling, leading the Cleveland Indians to a 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox on Monday night.
Martinez connected in the first for the Indians, who have won five of six. Cleveland has a surplus of starters, and with Jason Stanford set to return from the disabled list, manager Eric Wedge has some decisions to make. Westbrook may have made one for him, giving up just two runs and eight hits in his last 22 innings. Using his sinker to perfection, the right-hander got 13 outs on groundballs as the Red Sox lost their fourth straight. And for one of the few times this season, Cleveland's bullpen didn't have a late-inning meltdown. David Riske, the club's deposed closer, walked two in the seventh inning before Rick White came on. David Ortiz followed with an RBI double to deep center that probably should have been caught by Alex Escobar on the warning track. But after walking Manny Ramirez to load the bases, White struck out Brian Daubach and Jason Varitek to keep Cleveland up 2-1. White struck out two more in the eighth and Rafael Betancourt took over in the ninth. Betancourt gave up a leadoff single to Johnny Damon, who stole second when Bill Mueller struck out and went to third on catcher Martinez's throwing error. Betancourt then induced Ortiz to ground out to second and walked Ramirez before getting Daubach to fly out left to for his first save — and just the Indians' third in nine tries. Schilling didn't have his best stuff, but other than giving up Martinez's homer, the right-hander pitched well enough to win. He allowed two runs and seven hits, walked one and struck out six. Wedge juggled his batting order for Schilling, moving Martinez — primarily his No. 6 hitter — into the cleanup spot for the first time this season. The move paid off immediately as Martinez followed a two-out single by Jody Gerut with his fifth homer, a shot into the lower deck in right on Schilling's first pitch. The Red Sox loaded the bases with one out in the fourth but couldn't push a run across against Westbrook. Daubach reached on shortstop Omar Vizquel's fielding error and Varitek and Kevin Millar followed with singles. But Westbrook got out of it by making Mark Bellhorn ground into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play. |
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