Branyan saves the day

The Cleveland Indians looked down and out twice against the Boston Red Sox in tonight's 8-7 win.

After two innings, Cleveland trailed 5-0 and already amassed three errors...actually Andy Marte had already amassed three errors. How long before he's out of town? I'm guessing 7-10 years.

The Indians quickly regained three runs in the third and then took a 6-5 lead in the sixth. Cleveland recorded 10 hits for the second straight night (they had 12 tonight).

The game stayed quiet until the ninth (other than some unruly fans), when closer Kerry Wood entered the contest. He recorded two quick outs, but a slider to J.D. Drew went awry, hitting him, and the next batter, Adrian Beltre, smashed a home run to put Boston back on top by one.

Cleveland again rallied back quickly, as Trevor Crowe walked, Shin-Soo Choo doubled and Austin Kearns walked to load the bases with no outs against hard-throwing Daniel Bard, who is replacing Jonathan Papelbon, who is on the bereavement list, at closer

Travis Hafner, who hit a grand slam in last night's game, struck out looking and Jhonny Peralta popped out in foul territory just behind the plate to bring up Russell Branyan, who entered the game in the seventh for Marte.

Branyan, who is hitting .252 and has 40 strikeouts in 40 games, stroked a ball to right field, which just barely found its way to the ground against a Boston shift. Two runs scored on the play and the Indians earned a series split with the Red Sox.

AP image via ESPN.com