It's the Story, of a Man Named Grady..

Grady Sizemore needed one more home-run to become the second Indians player ever, and fourteenth in MLB history, to join the 30-30 club.  He hit two.  The Indians needed both, pulling out a ten-inning win 4-3.  The only other Indians player to reach the mark was Joe Carter in 1987. 

The Tribe moves to within half a game of passing up the Detroit Tigers for third place in the AL Central.  Additionally, the winning streak they are on is still alive at eight. 

Zach Jackson once again registered a no-decision, as Masa Kobayashi relieved him with one on in the middle of the seventh, and could not get an out, allowing the base runner Jackson was responsible for to score and tie the game.

Jackson went 6.1 innings, throwing 96 pitches, allowing three runs on seven hits, striking out six, and not walking anyone in the no-decision.

The long ball was the key to this game.  Five of the seven runs in this one were solo homers, two of those off the bat of Sizemore.

Sizemore wasted no time raising his career high home run total, taking the first strike he saw in the game over the center field wall, his eighteenth leadoff homerun. 

The Tigers Marcus Thames would answer that spank in the second with a home-run of his own, making it 1-1.

In the top of the third, Sizemore belted his 31st over the right-field wall.  Replays and a side-by-side comparison showed the pitch in almost the exact same location as his first jack.  The Indians were back on top 2-1.

In the top of the fourth, the Indians would score their only run that took more than one swing of the bat, as Shin-Soo Choo doubled to open the inning, and Ryan Garko singled Choo home for a 3-1 lead.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Tigers narrowed the deficit to 3-2 on an Edgar Renteria home-run, and the home-run fireworks guy was probably clocking in overtime at this point.

Everything would remain as is until the bottom of the seventh.  Jackson, on a short leash at this point with roughly 90 pitches in the books, got Ryan Raburn on a ground-out.  Thames singled to center, and that was it for Jackson. 

He’d watch from the bench as Kobayashi delivered a wild pitch that moved Raburn to second.  Next, he watched Andy Marte bobble an Edgar Renteria grounder, putting runners on the corners with still only one out. 

After Joyce came on to pinch run for Raburn, Jackson would see his win evaporate into thin air on an infield single by Brandon Inge, scoring Joyce.  That was if for Kobayashi.  Three batters, a wild pitch, and nary an out.

Rafael Perez came on and induced a ground-ball comebacker, but the Indians were a hair late turning the double play, leaving the Tigers with runners on the corners with two out.  Perez induced an inning ending ground-out to Curtis Granderson, but by then the game was a 3-all affair.

Perez shut the Tigers down in the eighth, yielding to Donnelly in the bottom of the ninth after the Indians failed to push a run across.

Donnelly threw one of his patented belt high fastballs that Renteria hit just two feet shy of ending the game.  After the scare Donnelly closed down Detroit and the game headed to extra innings.

There was really only way for this homer-fest to end, and Franklin Gutierrez gave the game a chance to do so by powering one to left and giving the Indians a 4-3 lead.

On came newly-found closer extraordinaire Jensen Lewis.  He also gave up a long out warning-track shot off the bat of Polanco as a tying scare, but ended the game with that fly-out and a pair of groundouts, the last being a shattered bat that flew over the head of Andy Marte while he fielded the ball for the last out.

These two battle again on Tuesday at 7:05.  Cliff Lee (18-2, 2.43 ERA) looks for his 19th win of the season against Chistopher Lambert, a guy with a stat line that reads --, --, --.  This is Lambert’s first time in the bigs.  Let’s hope the Indians make it an amazing experience and a very bad memory as they go for nine in a row.