The Indians took care of the Yankees last night in a long, drawn out game that featured the Indians jumping out to a nice early lead and while the Yankees chipped away at it, the Indians held on to win. It took well over an hour just to get through two innings but you have to be happy with the end result.
Grady Sizemore got things started with a lead off blast to give the Indians an early lead. Jhonny Peralta later singled home a run that inning and then in the second, the Indians loaded the bases up with nobody out before Joe Torre pulled Chien-Ming Wang. Sizemore grounded into a double play that scored a third run and then Adrubal Cabrera singled home a fourth run. The Yankees answered with a run in the bottom of the second before the Indians struck out again in the fourth. Victor Martinez provided the spark with a two run single that scored Grady Sizemore and Kelly Shoppach.
Paul Byrd gave the Indians five solid inning and while he did give up his share of hits, he also got out of a jam or two. From that point, it was more about limiting the damage then actually stopping it and while the Yankees chipped away with single run innings, the end result was a two run ball game. Joe Borowaski even gave up a run in the ninth but even he still had quite a bit of rope.
Now, the Indians will have a few days off to prepare for the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS. Using Byrd turned out to be a bonus because now the Indians can throw C.C. Sabathia in the first game on Friday, although the pitchers haven’t been announced yet.
