Padres-Indians: Former Tribe Members beat Cleveland 8-5

A grand slam by former Indian Kevin Kouzmanoff propelled the San Diego Padres over the Cleveland Indians in the bottom of the 10th.

Another former Tribe player, Jody Gerut, tied it in the eighth, snatching away Cliff Lee’s 11th victory of the season, and the Cleveland Indians lost 8-3 Saturday Evening at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

Apparently, the ugly '70s throwback uniforms of San Diego were too much to overcome for the Indians.

Lee got three runs in the top of the first, and based on his season to date, that should have clinched the win, but San Diego clawed their way back to a tie and an eventual win against the usual shaky bullpen of Cleveland.

In the bottom of the first, Cha Seung Baek looked like he was headed to the showers early.  Grady Sizemore opened the game with a walk.  After a Jamey Carroll popout, Sizemore swiped second.

Ben Francisco worked a full count into a walk, putting some serious speed on first and second.  Ryan Garko, who’s been a hot bat lately, singled Sizemore home and moved Francisco over to second. 

Shin-Soo Choo doubled Francisco home and moved Garko to third.  Jhonny Peralta grounded out, but scored Garko. Casey Blake flied out to center to end the inning.

The good news was that Lee was on the hill for the Indians.  The bad news was that Baek settled in after that.  After allowing three runs on two hits in the first, Baek did not allow another hit.  He held tough through the seventh, and the Padres offense chipped away at Lee.

In the bottom of the third, Justin Huber homered to close the gap to 3-1. 

The Padres tacked on another run in the fifth.  Khalil Greene started the mini-rally with an infield single.  He bounced one to first baseman Garko, and was called safe after Lee fielded an underhanded lob, touching the bag with his foot the same time as Greene.

It looked like a tie to the bag on the replay.  Typically a close play like that goes to the defense, but Greene got the safe call.

Huber singled Greene over to second and Lee was in a bit of a jam.  He struck out Luke Carlin, helping himself out. 

That’s when ex-Indians players started haunting current Indians players.  Jody Gerut singled, scoring Greene.  Lee induced Gonzalez to groundout to shortstop Peralta, escaping with the lead. 

Lee held nursed his lead until the seventh, when another former Tribe member, Kouzmanoff, doubled to left.  Lee got Greene to strike out on a beautiful pitching sequence that culminated in a high inside whiff, giving the Indians one out. 

Rafael Betancourt came on and struck out McAnulty, and Carlin grounded out, so the worst thing that could happen to Lee at this point was a no-decision.

Rafael Perez came on in the top of the eighth and erased Lee’s win, dishing up a home-run to Gerut on his second pitch of the game.  That tied the score at three.  Not only had the Indians given up the tying run, they gave up what should have been certain victory with Lee ahead 3-0 in the first.

The top of the 10th broke the game wide open.  Edward Mujica came in to pitch.  He got one out on a Gerut fly-out, but gave up consecutive hits to Gonzalez and Giles.  Giles, ANOTHER ex-Tribe member, doubled, putting runners on second and third. 

Gonzalez was intentionally walked, loading the bases and showing Gonzalez’s on both corners.  Clark walked on a full count, leaving the bases full and scoring Gonzalez.  Kouzmanoff hit a grand slam, and the Padres won 8-5.

The rubber match of the series is today at 1:05 p.m. EST, with Greg Maddux vs. C.C. Sabathia.