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Hafner's extra-inning hit propels Indians past Blue Jays

May 3, 2007 - 5:13 AM CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- When the Cleveland Indians needed a key hit, Travis Hafner was their man.

Hafner's RBI double in the bottom of the 11th inning off reliever Shaun Marcum was the difference as the Indians beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-6, for their third straight victory.

Jhonny Peralta had three hits, including a three-run homer, and Ryan Garko had two, including a solo blast for Cleveland, which has also won nine of its last 10 contests.

"It's big the way we are winning right now," Hafner said. "Every win is important, especially early in the season."

In the 11th, David Dellucci led off with a single to center field. With the Toronto infield and outfield in a defensive shift because of the left-handed hitting Hafner's proclivity to pull the ball to right field, the Indians' designated hitter crossed up the strategy.

Hafner cued a pitch by Marcum (1-2) down the third base line where third baseman Troy Glaus would have been in a regular alignment. However, with no one there, the ball continued down the left field line, allowing Dellucci, who was running on the pitch, to score all the way from first base.

"I knew Dellucci was running," Hafner said. "My main objective was to put the ball in play or foul it off. I probably should have taken it for a ball."

"I kicked it into gear," Dellucci said. "I was hoping (third base coach Joel) Skinner would send me home. I realized that there wasn't anyone over there and I would have a chance to score."

Dellucci then took a playful shot at Hafner, who is known more for his towering home runs than his hits to the opposite field.

"That was luck," Dellucci said. "If he tells you anything different, he's lying."

Hafner agreed.

"I never try to hit a ground ball to the left side," the slugger said.

Blue Jays manager John Gibbons had no regrets about employing the shift.

"That's what happens sometimes," he said. "When a team like them is going that good, that kind of thing will happen. There is nothing you can do."

Reliever Tom Mastny (2-0) retired three straight batters in the top of the 11th to earn the win and help the Indians remain unbeaten (3-0) in extra-inning games. Mastny, who was the last pitcher in the Cleveland bullpen, was one of eight used by Indians manager Eric Wedge.

"That was on everybody's mind," Hafner said about the lack of pitchers. "We knew we had to end the game soon."

The Indians had to go deep into their pitching staff because starter Jake Westbrook lasted just 1 1/3 innings, leaving the game in the second inning after an injury that was later described as lower abdominal tightness.

"Those guys (the bullpen) fought hard," Wedge said. "You lose your starting pitcher in the second inning, it's going to be a tough night. We had a lot of people step up for us."

Westbrook and the Indians did not know how seriousness of the injury and he will be re-evaluated on Thursday.

"I felt something in the first and it got worse every pitch in the second," Westbrook said. "Anytime you have to leave a game like that, you don't think it's good. We'll have to see how it feels tomorrow."

Toronto took the lead in the first when Frank Thomas plated Vernon Wells with an RBI single to left field. After Garko tied the game an inning later on a solo shot off Victor Zambrano, the Indians went ahead, 2-1, in the third on Trot Nixon's sacrifice fly with the bases loaded.

Zambrano was making his first start since May 6, 2006, when he left a game vs. the Atlanta Braves with a torn flexor tendon in his right elbow.

"I felt pretty good," Zambrano said. "I threw a lot of pitches and got ahead in counts."

In the fifth, the Blue Jays took a 4-2 lead on back-to-back bases-loaded walks and an RBI groundout by Alex Rios. However, in the bottom of the frame, after a sacrifice fly by Garko brought Cleveland within one, Peralta belted his sixth homer of the season into the first row in left field to give the Indians a 6-4 lead.

It was the second straight game in which Peralta hit a three-run blast.

Toronto had a rally of its own in the sixth on back-to-back RBI doubles by Glaus and Aaron Hill, knotting the contest at 6-6.

Wells and Thomas each had three hits for the Blue Jays, who have lost 11 of 12 at Jacobs Field.

"It was one of those games when you don't have the last at-bat, you know it's going to be tough to win," Gibbons said.