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Six-run frame pushes Indians past Dodgers

Jun 22, 2008 - 2:12 AM By Jonathan Raber PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The Cleveland Indians broke open a tie game with six runs in the top of the 11th inning en route to a 7-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in interleague play on Saturday.

Jhonny Peralta finished with three hits, including the tie-breaking single, and five Cleveland pitchers combined to shut down Los Angeles' offense.

With the score tied at 1-1, Jamey Carroll and Ben Francisco each singled off Corey Wade (0-1) to begin the 11th. Peralta followed by drilling a single to left off of Scott Proctor for a 2-1 advantage. The hits continued with Casey Blake, Kelly Shoppach and Grady Sizemore each singled home a run before Carroll capped the outburst with a sacrifice fly to right.

Masahide Kobayashi (4-3) threw a perfect 10th to pick up the win. Indians starter C.C. Sabathia threw seven strong innings and hit his second career home run for Cleveland, which also posted a 6-4 victory in 11 innings on Friday.

Peralta also had the decisive two-run double on Friday.

"Peralta, again, he got the big hit to get us the lead," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "That's what it takes sometimes, somebody to start it."

"It's embarrassing to the team, especially when guys compete like that all day, to go out there and pitch like that," a visibly frustrated Proctor said.

A Northern California native, Sabathia was making his first ever start at Dodger Stadium against the team he grew up despising. The reigning Cy Young winner was as good as advertised, both on the mound and with the lumber. Sabathia surrendered one run on five hits with a walk and 10 strikeouts.

"It doesn't really matter how we do it, if I win or not," Sabathia said. "I'm just trying to keep us in the game and trying to win a ballgame."

Sabathia gave the Indians a 1-0 lead in the third inning with a 440-foot blast to right field off Dodgers' starter Chan Ho Park.

"It felt good," Sabathia grinned. "That was awesome."

The 6-foot-7, 290-pounder entered with a .297 average, 11 hits and seven RBI - all tops for a pitcher in the American League since interleague play was introduced in 1997.

However, Sabathia relinquished the lead in the sixth when Matt Kemp drilled a first-pitch fastball to left for the 1-1 tie. The Dodgers managed just three singles until that juncture and only two extra-base hits.

Meanwhile, Park matched Sabathia pitch-for-pitch. The 34-year-old righthander allowed one run and three hits in five innings with nine strikeouts and two walks in his second start of the season.

The Dodgers bullpen posted five shutout innings in relief of Park, before the meltdown in the 11th.

"You shouldn't let a game like that get away," Proctor said.

James Loney had an RBI double in the 11th for Los Angeles, which was held to four hits by a quartet of relievers. The loss was the seventh in 10 games for the Dodgers (34-40) and dropped them five games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks (39-35) in the National League West Division standings.

"We're still in this, it's not even All-Star break and were only (five) games out," Kemp said. "I don't think anybody is really counting us out, (five) games isn't a lot. The way we're playing, we're still in the hunt."