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Friday, Apr. 28 7:05pm ET
Indians get start fresh against Red Sox | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CLEVELAND (AP) -- The Cleveland Indians haven't forgotten last October. They just don't want to relive it. Six months after an infamous collapse against Boston in the AL playoffs, Cleveland finally got to stage a little comeback of its own Friday night in a 4-3 victory over the Red Sox. The Indians got six strong innings from Dave Burba. They got clutch hits to overcome a 3-1 deficit. And unlike last year when their bullpen imploded in the division series, this time Cleveland's relievers got the job done. "Hopefully, we'll be up 2-0 in a series again this year," said closer Steve Karsay, who got his third save. "This time we won't give it away." Burba (3-1) allowed six hits in six innings and four relievers combined for three scoreless inning as the Indians opened a six-game homestand against the Red Sox and New York Yankees -- two teams they expect to see late in the fall -- with a win. "I had a feeling we'd be playing in some tight games over the next five or six days," said Paul Shuey, who pitched the eighth. "There's always a little something there when we play Boston and New York. There's an undercurrent. They got us last year so there's a little bit more to this series." It's only April, but any win against the Red Sox is a positive for the Indians. Boston was 8-4 against Cleveland last year and is now 16-8 against the Indians since '97. Travis Fryman homered and David Justice had an RBI single and made a nice running catch on the warning track in the eighth inning. Justice's grab came on a ball hit by Troy O'Leary off Shuey. In last year's decisive Game 5, Shuey threw a similar split-finger fastball to O'Leary, who hit a three-run homer to snap an 8-8 tie and send the Red Sox into the ALCS. "Ha-ha. Same pitch," said Shuey, who can now afford laugh. "It was another splitter. He popped it pretty good. I'm just glad D.J. was able to catch it." Manny Ramirez, Justice and Jim Thome hit RBI singles in the sixth when the Indians rallied from a 3-1 deficit. Thome's base hit off Rheal Cormier put the Indians ahead 4-3, and Indians manager Charlie Manuel turned to his bullpen to close it out. Hargrove tried the same thing last October, but Cleveland's relievers were shaky as the Red Sox came back to take the series. Ricardo Rincon struck out both batters he faced and Scott Kamieniecki closed the seventh before Shuey and Karsay finished up. "We had some opportunities, but they pitched their way out of them," said Boston manager Jimy Williams. "All their pitchers did a good job, and that's why they won." In the sixth, Fryman doubled with one out off Pete Schourek (1-2) and Roberto Alomar singled. Ramirez's base hit scored Fryman and chased Schourek, who allowed four runs in 5 1/3 innings. Cormier had retired all eight left-handers he had faced this year before giving up the RBI single to Justice, who entered the game just 3-for-15 against lefties this season. One out later, Thome snapped an 0-for-13 slump against left-handers with a hit to score Ramirez. Burba, whose arm injury in Game 3 of the playoffs last year set off a chain of events that would lead to Cleveland's elimination, allowed six hits in six innings. He got burned by a pair of walks in the fifth when the Red Sox took a 3-1 lead on O'Leary's sacrifice fly and Carl Everett's RBI single. Burba escaped more trouble when Mike Stanley lined into a double play. Trot Nixon doubled in the third and scored when Nomar Garciaparra, who hit .451 against Cleveland last season, dropped a single into left. Fryman's fourth homer of the season leading off the fourth tied it at 1. Game notesThe Red Sox and Indians were rained out of three games at Fenway Park last weekend. ... The win was Burba's first in seven career starts against the Red Sox. ... Manuel will consult again with doctors this weekend about having an operation to reattach his colon. Manuel had eight inches of his colon removed during emergency surgery in February and had wanted to put off the second procedure until the All-Star break, but doctors have advised him to have it done sooner. ... Garciaparra is hitting .466 (27-for-58) with 13 RBIs during his 14-game hitting streak. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Boston Clubhouse Cleveland Clubhouse RECAPS Baltimore 4 Texas 3
Cleveland 4
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