Cleveland, OH - Manny Ramirez finished 3-for-4 with two home runs, four RBI and scored four times as Boston topped Cleveland in a slugfest, 14-9, in the finale of a four-game set at Jacobs Field.
Wily Mo Pena was 4-for-5 with a homer, four RBI and two runs scored for the Red Sox, who have won six of seven and lead the AL East by 7 1/2 games over the Yankees. Mike Lowell was 3-for-5 with a pair of runs driven in, Jason Varitek collected two hits and two RBI, Coco Crisp had two hits and scored twice while Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz also scored twice each.
Julian Tavarez (6-8) got the win in 2 1/3 frames of relief despite allowing two hits and four runs. Starter Kason Gabbard was charged with four hits and five runs over 4 2/3 innings with three walks and three strikeouts.
Cliff Lee (5-8) took the loss and was rocked for nine hits and eight runs — seven earned — in four-plus innings. He is 0-4 with an 11.71 ERA in his last four outings. Ryan Garko and Franklin Gutierrez homered for the Indians, who have lost four of six including three of four in the series. Travis Hafner also knocked in two runs in defeat.
Down by eight, Cleveland showed some life in the home half of the fifth. Josh Barfield’s two-out, two-run double brought Cleveland within 9-3, and Grady Sizemore followed with a run-scoring single. Casey Blake and Victor Martinez drew walks to load the bases, and Gabbard plunked Hafner to force in a run. Tavarez relieved the embattled youngster and got Garko to fly to center which kept Boston’s lead at four.
Varitek and Crisp hit consecutive one-out singles in the seventh and reliever Jason Stanford gave way to Tom Mastny. Pena greeted him with a first-pitch three-run homer to put the Sox up 12-5, but Julio Lugo flew out and Dustin Pedroia fanned to end the frame.
The Indians kept coming with four in the bottom of the inning on Hafner’s RBI single and Garko’s three-run homer to make it 12-9, but Ramirez lofted his second blast of the night, a two-run shot, off Jensen Lewis in the eighth for a 14-9 score.
Hideki Okajima restored order and blanked the Tribe in the eighth, and Javier Lopez finished the game with a scoreless ninth.
After a thiry minute rain delay, the Sox broke through when Ramirez led off the second by dropping a Lee offering deep beyond the fence in dead center for his 16th homer of the season.
In the third, Pedroia hit into a double play but Pena, who began the inning with a single, scored to make it 2-0, then Gutierrez answered with his second homer in as many nights to bring the Tribe within 2-1.
The Sox loaded the bases in the fourth on back-to-back walks to Ramirez and Youkilis plus a single by Lowell. Varitek singled through the hole to score a pair, but further damage was limited as Crisp, Pena and Lugo were retired in order to end the inning.
Boston tacked on five more runs in the fifth. Pedroia led off with a single, went to second when Ortiz walked, and scored on a Ramirez double. Jhonny Peralta booted a Youkilis grounder and the bases were loaded, then Lowell laced a two-run single to right which put the Sox up 7-1 and spelled the end for Lee.
Stanford entered and induced a double-play ball off Varitek’s bat, but allowed a double to Youkilis and an RBI single by Crisp. Pena rapped a double off the wall in right-center to bring in another run for a 9-1 lead.
Game Notes
Lugo extended his hit streak to 15 games…Ramirez’s second-inning homer was estimated at 481 feet. He now has 49 career multi-homer games…Hafner snapped an 0-for-21 slump with his seventh-inning single…Sox right-hander Curt Schilling made his second rehab start, pitching for Boston’s Triple-A club Pawtucket against Toledo…Boston also signed outfielder Brady Clark to a minor-league deal, landing the 34-year-old with Pawtucket. Clark was released by the Dodgers on June 18…Cleveland continues its 10-game homestand by welcoming the Twins on Friday, while Boston heads to Tampa for a three-game set Friday.
