Indians Prevail in Extra Innings: Former Red Sox Outfielder Trot Nixon Hit an RBI Single in the 11th

Oct 14, 04:48 AM

Current Headlines: By Clark Spencer, The Miami Herald

Oct. 14--BOSTON -- The clock read 1:37 a.m. when the marathon ended in the 11th inning, when reliever Joe Borowski recorded the final out on the Boston Red Sox and preserved a 13-6 win for the Cleveland Indians in the American League Championship Series.

Pinch-hitter Trot Nixon's bloop single in the top of the 11th at Fenway Park scored the go-ahead run, and the Indians added six more in the inning as they gained new life in the series, which is now tied 1-1 and moves on to Jacobs Field in Cleveland.

Nixon, who spent the first 10 years of his career with the Red Sox before joining the Indians this season, stung his former club with his one-out single off Boston reliever Javier Lopez.

That opened the floodgates for the Indians, who needed a win to avoid returning home two losses away from elimination.

What began as a run-fest evolved into the pitcher's duel that many anticipated. Only it was the bullpens that did the sparring, not the two starters, Cleveland's Fausto Carmona and Boston's Curt Schilling.

But it took 5 hours and 14 minutes to complete.

The score, which was 6-6 after six innings, remained that way until Nixon dropped a single into short right-center field that scored Grady Sizemore from second with the deciding run.

But it finally collapsed on the Red Sox in the 11th, when Eric Gagne, the former Cy Young Award winner, continued to struggle with Boston, giving up a one-out single to Sizemore followed by a walk to Asdrubal Cabrera.

Lopez took over for Gagne and immediately gave up the RBI hit to Nixon.

One day after the Red Sox made easy work of Indians starter C.C. Sabathia, a 19-game winner and a leading Cy Young Award candidate, they did the same to Carmona, a star on the rise who also won 19 games this season.

Carmona was made to work by the disciplined Red Sox hitters, whose patience at the plate was exhibited in the four walks issued by the young right-hander in the first three innings. The most damaging free pass was the four-pitch walk that Manny Ramirez received with the bases loaded in the third.

That tied the score. Mike Lowell's opposite-field single untied it, scoring two runs to make it 3-1.

It took Carmona 39 pitches to complete the third inning, at which point his total count was up to 74, an alarming number.

But the Indians answered in the fourth.

Jhonny Peralta's three-run homer off Schilling put Cleveland back on top, 4-3.

It became 5-3 when Sizemore ripped a line shot that landed in the Red Sox bullpen just beyond the wall in right, and Schilling didn't survive the inning after he gave up two more hits, the eighth and ninth for the Indians.

So much for all the talk of two spectacular pitching battles to open the ALCS. While Josh Beckett lived up to the part by earning the victory in convincing manner in Game 1, the pitching has not been anywhere close to advertised.

Sabathia, turned in a dud. Schilling and Carmona were just as unimpressive on Saturday, each failing to make it through the fifth inning.

Luis Perez, who was brought in to replace Carmona, promptly gave up back-to-back home runs to Ramirez and Lowell, the first coming on an 0-2 pitch with two men on. Those long balls put the Red Sox back in front, 6-5.

Cleveland tied it in the sixth on Franklin Gutierrez's ground ball out, and the score remained deadlocked until the 11th.

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