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Peralta powers Indians past slumping Twins

Sep 18, 2008 - 4:58 AM By Todd Krepop PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Jhonny Peralta homered and drove in the go-ahead run as the Cleveland Indians pushed the Minnesota Twins closer to elimination with a 6-4 victory on Wednesday.

Minnesota (82-70) has lost four games in a row and remained 2 1/2 behind the Chicago White Sox (84-67) in the American League Central Division. The Twins now find themselves heading to Tampa Bay to play the American League East leaders for a crucial four-game series.

"In this series, they outplayed us," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We made way too many mistakes. Every time we'd score, we'd give it right back."

"We've got to go down and play one of the hottest teams in baseball that also needs to win," he said. "We've got to put this behind us."

With two outs and a runner on third in the seventh, Matt Guerrier relieved Jose Mijares (0-1) and yielded an RBI double by Peralta that gave the Indians a 5-4 advantage. Victor Martinez followed with a run-scoring two-base hit to double the lead.

"I thought I made a good pitch, but (Peralta) put it in a good spot for them," Guerrier said. "It wasn't a bad pitch."

Cliff Lee, who fell short in his bid for his 23rd win, allowed four runs and 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings. The no-decision snapped a string of 11 straight starts with a win for the lefthander.

"It was a battle," Lee said. "I had to throw a lot of pitches every inning. I got as deep as I could."

Edward Mujica (3-2) relieved Lee and recorded the final two outs of the seventh inning for the win.

Rafael Perez worked around two hits in the eighth and Jensen Lewis pitched around a two-out single in the ninth for his 10th save in 11 chances.

With Cleveland leading, 4-2, after six innings, the stage was set for Lee to become the major leagues' first 23-game winner since 2002. But the Twins rallied for two runs to spoil Lee's last home start.

"(Lee) never got to the point where he was locked in like we are used to see him," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. "That was as hard as he has had to work all year."

Alexi Casilla reached on a fielding error by third baseman Jamey Carroll to start the inning and Joe Mauer followed with a double. Justin Morneau drove in Casilla with a groundout and Delmon Young fought off a 2-2 pitch for an RBI single, ending Lee's night and tying the game at 4-4.

Lee spotted the Twins a 2-0 advantage, but the Indians answered on solo home runs by Peralta and Travis Hafner in the fourth off Scott Baker. Shin-Soo Choo delivered a two-run single in the fifth to give Cleveland its first lead.