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Indians end Boston's 11-game winning streak 9-8

Apr 29, 2009 - 4:46 AM CLEVELAND(AP) -- Javier Lopez took his eyes off the ball for an instant - and Boston's 11-game winning streak was over.

Mark DeRosa had four hits and scored from second base on Lopez's error with two outs in the ninth inning as the Cleveland Indians rallied to beat the Red Sox 9-8 on Tuesday night.

"It's a play a pitcher makes a thousand times in his career," Lopez (0-2) said of covering first base on an infield grounder. "I just took my eyes off it. There's no real excuse for it. It's a tough way to break a winning streak."

DeRosa, who entered the game in a 2-for-22 slump, began the ninth with a bloop single. After a sacrifice and a strikeout, first baseman Kevin Youkilis made a backhanded stop of Asdrubal Cabrera's grounder and flipped to Lopez, who dropped it as he got to first base while DeRosa scored.

"The middle infielders were playing deep, so I got a good secondary lead and just started running," DeRosa said. "Then it was just trusting Joel (Skinner, the third-base coach). He said 'Keep going.' I did."

Youkilis didn't blame the left-hander.

"We didn't lose the game on that play," Youkilis said. "We had a ton of opportunities. We left people on base."

Boston stranded 11 runners.

Cleveland was 1 of 15 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base, but won for only the second time in its last 11 games against the Red Sox, including Boston sweeping the final three games of the 2007 ALCS.

Kerry Wood (1-1), worked a shaky ninth, but earned his first AL win. The right-hander gave up two singles, but got Jacoby Ellsbury to line out to second with runners on first and third and two outs.

"This was a great team win," said Wood, signed as a free agent in December. "We were down early, came back to tie it and the bullpen did a great job. I wasn't aggressive enough when I came in, but got out of it OK."

DeRosa said: "It was good to Kerry a win after last night."

Wood gave up a three-run homer to Jason Bay in the ninth inning of a scoreless game on Monday as the Red Sox won 3-1.

Boston shortstop Julio Lugo, in his first game since July, broke a 7-7 tie with an RBI single in the seventh.

DeRosa tied it at 8 in the bottom half with his fourth homer.

Lugo, activated on Monday, had not played since July 11, when he strained his left quadriceps and missed the rest of the season. He hurt his right knee on March 13 in an exhibition game, had arthroscopic surgery, and began this season on the disabled list.

Lugo was replaced by Nick Green to start the eighth. Manager Terry Francona said Lugo told him his knee had stiffened up in the cold, drizzly weather.

The teams combined for 14 runs and 17 hits in the first three innings, which took 1 hour, 55 minutes. Included were five walks, three sacrifice flies, two hit batters and a throwing error by Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell. There were 193 pitches and an Indians official said eight dozen baseballs were used before the fourth inning.

Youkilis' two-run double capped a four-run second as Boston built a 5-1 lead against starter Anthony Reyes.

After Cleveland cut it to 5-3, the Red Sox tacked on two runs in the third, both charged to Reyes.

The Indians tied it at 7 in the third off Brad Penny. Ben Francisco's three-run homer on a 3-2 pitch capped a four-run inning.

Reyes gave up nine hits and seven runs over two innings. Penny allowed seven hits and four runs over 2 2-3 innings.

Penny's ERA went up to 8.66, but the Red Sox have scored 38 runs in his four starts, winning three.

Notes: The 4-hour, 19-minute game was the longest nine-inning contest at Progressive Field since the ballpark opened in 1994. ... DeRosa went 4-for-5. It was his 10th career game of four or more hits. ... The Indians are the only team in the majors without a triple. ... Red Sox RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka, on the DL with a sore shoulder since April 15, threw in the batting cage Tuesday and is expected to have a bullpen session Wednesday.