Indians Confidential

Consider it meltdown number two on the season for Indians closer Joe Borowski.  The Tribe reliever once again had a rather large collapse in the 9th on Monday night at Progressive Field, as he allowed three runs in the Tribe’s 6-4 setback to the champion Red Sox.  Manny Ramirez hit a two-run blast off of Borowski after Dustin Pedroia tied the game with a sac fly that scored Julio Lugo to make it 4-4.  The Indians had staked themselves to a 4-1 advantage after Victor Martinez hit a two-run single off of Sox starter Jon Lester in the 4th, and then Travis Hafner hit a single in the 5th to give them the three-run lead.

The collapse by Borowski wasted a great night by Jake Westbrook, who who went 6.1 innings, allowing one earned run on seven hits.  He gave up a run on two hits in the first inning, then settled in for the final five plus frames to allow just one more run, an unearned run, to come across, while striking out five.  Things looked to be setting up nicely for the Indians in the late innings, as despite being up 4-2, Rafel Betancourt went back-to-back striking out David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez to end a Sox threat in the 7th that kept the score 4-2.  He did allow a solo homer to Kevin Youkilis to make it 4-3, then Borowski gave up three runs in the 9th.

The two teams will wrap up the short two-game set on Tuesday, as Paul Byrd will try to get on track against the Sox.  He sits at 0-2 with an ERA of 11.05, and will battle Tim Wakefield who is 1-0 with a 3.27 ERA.  First pitch is at 7:05pm.