Five and Fly: Vic’s Bomb Saves The Day

Amazing. I smell 2008 all over again with your beloved Erie Warriors. Thanks to a ninth inning Victor Martinez three-run jack off of Angels close Brian Fuentes, the Indians pulled off a come from behind stunner in Anaheim, winning 8-6, and pushing their winning streak to five. From an hour before the game until the last out, it was quite the interesting evening.

Manager Eric Wedge was not in uniform, serving a one-game suspension for the incident involving two hit batters in Seattle on Saturday. Next came the last minute scratch of scheduled DH Ryan Garko, who had been shipped to San Francisco for A-ball pitcher Scott Barnes. Wedge and interim manager Jeff Datz had to scramble to fox his lineup with Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner both in need of a day off.

So Jhonny Peralta, also scheduled for a day off, took the DH spot. Jamey Carroll was at third, Luis Valbuena played  second, Chris Gimenez took  left,  Ben Francisco was in center, and the sub-.200 hitting Kelly Shoppach was catching. If you knew this lineup would produce 20 hits – that’s right, 20 hits – then call yourself a genius.

Even with the 20 hit attack, the Tribe was three outs away for a loss before Vic the Stik’s heroics. But how did we get to that point?

Carl Pavano got the start, coming off his horrendous four solo homer outing in Toronto last week. The offense gave him a 2-0 lead in the second. Gimenez singled home Jhonny Peralta (leadoff single) and one out later, Shoppach brought in Ben Francisco (double) via a single to right. Shop’s approach last night was much improved – both of his hits went the opposite way. Unfortunately, Pavano’s gopher-ball string re-appeared.

To start the second,  Juan Rivera, Kendry Morales, and Mike Napoli hit back to back to back jacks. Pavano’s stuff was flat again last night, but he still managed to get through six innings. The problem was, every time the Indians put a run on the board, Pavano gave it right back.

In the third, Peralta doubled in Shin-Soo Choo to tie the game at three. But with two outs in the bottom half, Bobby Abreu singled, stole second (where replays showed he was thrown out), was wold pitched to third, and scored on a Rivera single.

In the fifth, Peralta again drove in Choo to tie the game, this time at four. But just like the third inning, the Angels regained the lead on an Abreu RBI single. Pavano, began to tire in an odd bottom of the sixth. Morales hit a deep fly to left which Gimenez seemed to get to. He leaped at the wall to steal a homer away, but the ball hit the heel of his glove and popped out over the fence for a solo homer – the eighth solo shot Pavano has given up in his last two starts. Said King Carl:  “You’ve seen me pitch all year. I’m not a nibbler. I’m not going to walk guys. I’m going to challenge hitters. Those guys in the middle of that lineup can hit.”

It was 6-4, but things could have been much worse.

With two outs and Gary Matthews Jr. (by the way, has anyone capitalized more on cheating at the right time that Matthews Jr – $50 million for him?) on first, Reggie Willits hit a drive to right-center that looked like a gap shot. Francisco – whose defense I have been very critical of, ran a long way on a dead sprint and laid out, full extension to make an amazing diving catch to end the inning. It turned out ot be the pivotal play of the game.

It remained 6-4 until the ninth after two scoreless innings from Jose Veras. It wasn’t for a lack of chances. The Tribe had men on second and third with one out in the seventh, but Martinez and Peralta failed to come through with the big hit. They certainly made up for it in the ninth.

Enter closer Brian Fuentes, who had given up an earned run since May. Jamey Carroll led off with a single. Choo followed with a single of his own – his fourth hit of the night. Up stepped The Stik with a chance for redemption. Boy, did he redeem himself. Victor took Fuentes deep over the left field wall to put the Indians on top 7-6. “At 2-0, I figured he’s going to throw me a fastball and I’m going to take a chance,” said Martinez. “That ball beat me a little bit. I didn’t know if it was out or not. It just got out, but they all count."

For good measure and insurance, Peralta crushed a solo blast to center – a no-doubter that was his fourth hit of the game. “The minute I hit it, I knew it was gone,” he said.

Kerry Wood pitched the ninth for his 14th save, giving the Indians their fifth straight win and for sure making their suspended manager proud; they never gave into the fight last night.

“Our guys battled to the end against a very good closer;”  interim skipped Datz said. “This is a special win, because we’ve been on the other end of some of these. Everybody contributed, and we continued swinging the bats as we’ve done on this trip.”

On the night, every Indian had at least one hit, seven of the starting nine had two or more, including Choo and Peralta who had four each. During the five game winning streak, the Tribe offense is averaging 8.8 runs per game.

As for the departed Ryan Garko, he now gets to return to the Bay Area where he played his college ball (Stanford). We will have a more in-depth look at noon.