Sizemore's blast rallies Tribe
4/24/2009CLEVELAND - A day after grumbling about Cleveland's inability to produce good at-bats, Grady Sizemore took matters into his own hands.
Sizemore greeted reliever Ron Mahay with a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the eighth inning yesterday afternoon, and the Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 5-2.
Cleveland took two of three for its first series victory of the season. The last-place Indians bounced back from a 2-0 loss Wednesday night.
"To be effective, you have to win series," Sizemore said. "And to gain ground in your division, you have to be able to win series against those guys, so it was big for us."
Royals starter Gil Meche (1-1) had retired 16 straight batters and took a 2-1 lead into the eighth. An error by second baseman Alberto Callaspo let the tying run score and finished Meche.
Sizemore followed with his sixth home run. He is now 3-for-8 lifetime against Mahay with two homers.
"He kind of reached out and touched somebody," said Mahay, who gave up the home run on a slider. "If I had to do it all over again, I'd do it. You live by the slider, you die by the slider."
Sizemore's homer pulled the Indians out of an offensive funk. He was irritated after Wednesday night's game, when the Indians were blanked on five hits.
"I got up there with an opportunity to open the game up," Sizemore said. "I wasn't necessarily trying to get a homer. I was trying to get a base hit and score a run, but it worked out."
Jensen Lewis (2-2) worked two scoreless innings for the victory. Kerry Wood pitched a perfect ninth for his third save.
Through seven innings, Meche was in control. The Indians' only baserunners came in the second, when Shin-Soo Choo doubled, stole third, and scored on a throwing error by catcher John Buck. Meche struck out seven and did not walk a batter. Ben Francisco also doubled in the inning.
"He had it all working today," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "He had his fastball, a good breaking ball, he was cutting the ball a little bit, and he had a changeup too. When he's on like that, he's tough to hit. He was on today."
Ryan Garko led off the Cleveland eighth with a double and was lifted for pinch-runner Tony Graffanino. Francisco bunted for a single, and when Meche's throw skipped away from first baseman Billy Butler, Graffanino ran through third-base coach Joel Skinner's stop sign and was thrown out at the plate.
"Graff was overly aggressive," Wedge said. "I think he thought the ball got farther away than it did."
Royals manager Trey Hillman went to the mound after Garko's double but chose to stick with Meche. Travis Hafner then singled, and Asdrubal Cabrera hit a grounder that Callaspo misplayed, making it 2-all and forcing Hillman to go to Mahay.