Indians Confidential

Patience paid off for the Indians Tuesday night in the Bronx, as the Tribe drew two monster walks in the 8th inning, opening up the door for pinch-hitter David Dellucci to belt a three-run homer as the Indians top the Yankees 5-3.  Grady Sizemore and Jhonny Peralta both walked off of Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlin, setting up Dellucci for his 4th homer of the season, a shot to deep right that was just the emotional lift that the Wahoo’s needed.

The bullpen, a big concern as of late, did a nice job in the final four innings, allowing NY just two hits.  Rafael Perez, Jensen Lewis and Rafael Betancourt shut the door, not giving New York a shot to increase their lead or get back in the game once the Indians took control after Dellucci’s blast.  Perez gets the win to improve to 1-1 on the season, Betancourt earned his 3rd save of the year.

The Indians were outhit 8-6, but they got the big hits when they needed them.  Trailing 1-0 in the fourth, Peralta homered to deep center off of Andy Pettitte to give the Indians a 2-1 lead.  It was Peralta’s 6th homer of the season.  The Yankees came back with two runs in the bottom of the inning off of Indians starter Fausto Carmona, as Jason Giambi doubled in a run, and Robinson Cano singled in Giambi to make it 3-2.

Neither team was able to get another run across till the Indians were able to get to Chamberlin with the walks and then Dellucci’s homer to win the game.  The win puts the Indians at 15-17 on the season.  Wednesday Cliff Lee brings his 5-0 mark to the mound as he takes on 6-0 Chein-Ming Wang, who shut out the Indians last Sunday 1-0 at Progressive Field.  First pitch Wednesday night is 7:05pm.