Boone's walk-off keeps streak alive
CLEVELAND -- A teammate stuck a blue Post-It note on Aaron Boone's jersey. The note read: "Today we spell redemption B-O-O-N-E.""You're not supposed to read that," said Boone, who reached up and pulled the note from his jersey.
It was too late. The note had already been read, and it clearly was meant as a tribute to a struggling teammate whose walk-off homer in the bottom of the 11th inning had served as the defining blow Wednesday night in the Tribe's 7-6 win over the Rockies in front of 20,986 at Jacobs Field.
"I didn't crush it," Boone said of his homer. "But I thought I got enough of it. It was down the line and stuff, so ... it was good to see it go over, that's for sure."
No doubt about that. And nobody in an Indians uniform felt more pleased that Boone's ball did go over the wall in left field than C.C. Sabathia did. For it was his unimpressive work in the early going that had buried the Tribe in a 6-2 hole.
He had been entrusted with the task of giving the Tribe its season-high fifth victory in a row, and he looked as if he might do so as he breezed through the first two innings without a problem.
But in the third, Sabathia's performance fell off sharply.
With one out, he gave up a double to Desi Relaford and a RBI single to Danny Ardoin. Eddy Garabito followed with a single to right, and he moved to second on Sabathia's wild pitch.
Garrett Atkins hit an infield single that scored Arboin. Todd Helton walked, and Preston Wilson singled in a run. A popup followed for the inning's second out, but Ryan Shealy's double scored Atkins and Helton.
Shealy's hit also gave the Rockies a 5-2 lead.
"I don't know," Sabathia said, shaking his head. "They got some hits, and I didn't make some pitches, got behind some guys. It ended up being a big inning."
Yet the Rockies wouldn't be finished with Sabathia this night. They scored another run off him in the fourth, and he left the ballgame behind, 6-2, with the bases loaded with runners and just one out.
"I didn't give my team a real good chance to win this game," he said.
Nobody can dispute that. The good thing, though, was that the bullpen didn't let the situation get worse.
Right-hander Rafael Betancourt wiggled out of the fourth. Betancourt struck out Wilson and Dustin Mohr to keep the Indians within four runs.
If anything provided a spark, it was Betancourt's work.
"He kept us in the ballgame," manager Eric Wedge said of Betancourt. "He's a guy who stomped 'em out that inning and kept going."
For after he'd put shut down what had the potential to be the deciding inning, the Indians started to chip away at their four-run deficit.
Their comeback started modestly in the bottom of the fourth. The Tribe scored once that inning and then scored again in the fifth to cut the Colorado lead to 6-4.
After a 52-minute rain delay, the Tribe pushed across a run in the sixth on Boone's sacrifice fly with the bases loaded.
Still, the Indians remained a run behind as they headed into the bottom of the ninth. With one out, Jhonny Peralta tied the ballgame with a homer off left-hander Brian Fuentes on a 0-2 pitch.
"A long night out there," Boone said. "We did a lot of good things in coming back, and our bullpen was money again."
Money? The bullpen proved to be the Tribe's "Million Dollar Baby." Betancourt, Matt Miller & Co. cobbled together a string of 7 2/3 scoreless innings, which gave the Indians time and chances to win.
With his solo homer, Boone made sure the Tribe's chance in the 11th didn't go to waste either.
"It feels good -- good," said Boone, who went 2-for-4. "Especially to do it as we're starting to play a lot better as a team. I feel like we're catching our stride, and I personally feel like I am, too.
"I've just got to keep plugging away now."
Source: http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/
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