• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Martinez lifts Indians over Yankees

Apr 27, 2008 - 1:27 AM By Todd Krepop PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Victor Martinez never had a walk-off hit in his career - until Saturday.

Martinez hit a one-out, single in the bottom of the ninth as the Cleveland Indians defeated the New York Yankees, 4-3, for their season-high fifth straight victory.

Martinez laced Ross Ohlendorf's 2-1 offering the opposite way into left field after the Yankees intentionally walked Travis Hafner to load the bases. The normally calm Martinez was anything but as he jumped up and down with his teammates in the infield.

"It was my first walk-off hit, so I was going to enjoy it," the two-time All-Star catcher said.

Grady Sizemore and David Dellucci hit consecutive one-out singles off of Ohlendorf (0-1) to start the rally.

Ohlendorf then let loose a wild pitch with Travis Hafner at the plate to move the runners up a base.

"The first two hits, I felt like they found a hole," Ohlendorf said. "I was in a tough situation and the wild pitch didn't help."

The wild pitch forced the Yankees to walk Hafner to set up a force at every base and Martinez made them pay.

"The pitcher doesn't want to walk you," Martinez said. "They want to throw a strike. The only thing I had in mind was to put a good swing on the ball."

"He is a clutch performer that wants to be up there in those situations," said Indians manager Eric Wedge, who was ejected in the eighth inning by second base umpire Derryl Cousins. "He put a beautiful swing on it from what I saw on TV."

Masa Kobayashi pitched two scoreless innings of relief to pick up his first major league victory. Kobayashi (1-0) signed with the Indians this offseason after pitching for the Chiba Lotte Marines for nine years.

"I feel that I am lucky to get my first win against the Yankees," Kobayashi said through a translator. "It will be a lifetime memory."

Kobayashi gave the Indians a chance to win the game after inducing a double play grounder from Derek Jeter with runners on the corners in the top of the ninth.

Jeter smashed a ball up the middle that hit off the mound and right to second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera. Cabrera raced to second to get the force and threw a strike to first to complete the play.

"It was a nice play and it helped me a lot," said Kobayashi.

The Yankees struggled throughout the day with runners in scoring position, going 2-for-13.

"Offensively, we had some opportunities, but just were not able to capitalize," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

Indians starter Jeremy Sowers baffled the Yankees for the first five innings, but New York got to the 24-year-old lefthander in the sixth for three runs to tie the game at 3-3.

Sowers struck out Jeter to start the inning but gave up a single to Alex Rodriguez and hit Jason Giambi. Sowers then walked Shelley Duncan to load the bases and end his afternoon.

Sowers was called up before the game to take injured starter Jake Westbrook's spot in the rotation. He allowed three runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 frames while striking out three.

Reliever Jensen Lewis struck out pinch hitter Robinson Cano, but Jorge Posada lined a triple past a diving Dellucci in left field. It was Posada's ninth career triple.

Cleveland took advantage of starter Ian Kennedy's wildness to take 3-0 lead in the second.

After consecutive singles and a sacrifice to start the inning, Kennedy walked Casey Blake and Sizemore to force in a run.

After Dellucci's sacrifice fly, Hafner blooped an RBI single into shallow left.

Kennedy didn't allow a hit after that as he gave up three runs on four hits in five innings. He struck out two and walked four.