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Indians Vs. Boston Final: Tribe Picks Up A Huge 7-3 Win, Gains A Game On Detroit

The Indians finally managed to get enough runs for Justin Masterson, and on a night when Masterson struggled early, Cleveland was able to come away from this four-game series with the Red Sox with a split, winning tonight 7-3.

The Tribe pounded out 14 hits, including three each from Travis Hafner, Carlos Santana and Kosuke Fukudome. It was Santana’s two-run homer in the sixth that put the Indians ahead to stay, and the bullpen made sure that the Red Sox would not pull any late-inning magic on this night.

After Boston grabbed a quick 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, the Tribe immediately tied things up in the second on a Matt LaPorta infield single off of Erik Bedard — who was making his first appearance for the Red Sox after being acquired from Seattle and who never got to the bag to cover first, allowing LaPorta to reach safely — and a ground out from Austin Kearns. The inning could have been even better, but LaPorta was thrown out at the plate on a base-hit from Jason Donald.

Cleveland took a 3-2 lead in the third, but not before Masterson recorded four strikeouts in the Boston third, on the first of which Josh Reddick reached on a wild pitch on a swinging strike three. Then the Indians scored when Santana delivered a two-out single, scoring Asdrubal Cabrera.

Boston tied it at 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth when Reddick homered and it stayed that way until the sixth.

The Red Sox brought in Franklin Morales (0-2) to replace Bedard, and the Indians greeted Morales with a double from Hafner followed by Santana’s 16th round-tripper of the season, and the Tribe was up 5-3.

Masterson (9-7) worked out of a two-on and one-out jam in the sixth and then the Indians tacked on an insurance run in the seventh when Hafner doubled with two outs, scoring Cabrera from first and making it 6-3.

Vinnie Pestano came on in relief of Masterson to start the seventh and worked a solid inning and a third before Tony Sipp got the last two outs in the eighth. Chris Perez then came on in a non-save situation and retired the Sox in order to finish things up.

It was a non-save situation courtesy of Fukudome, who doubled in Cabrera with two outs in the top of the ninth.

The Tribe had a good game with men in scoring position, going 5-for-13. Amazing how that can translate into a win, yes?

With the win, Cleveland gains a game on Detroit and pulls within three of the Tigers, who lost Thursday afternoon to Texas. The Tribe now takes on those Rangers in a three-game series this weekend.

All eyes will be on Friday night’s game, when Ubaldo Jimenez will make his first appearance and start for The Good Guys.

Photographs by spatulated, Triple Tri, and chrischappelear used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.