Major League Baseball
Spectacular 7th gets Blue Jays past Indians
Major League Baseball

Spectacular 7th gets Blue Jays past Indians

Published May. 5, 2009 10:06 p.m. ET

There's not much relief in the Cleveland Indians bullpen these days.

Adam Lind hit a three-run home run and Scott Rolen added a solo shot to punctuate a seven-run seventh inning for the Toronto Blue Jays in their 10-6 win Tuesday over the Indians.

Trailing 6-3 after Cleveland scored four times in the top of the seventh, the Blue Jays responded with seven runs and six hits off four Indians relievers in the bottom half.

"What's happening here right now is unacceptable," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said of his struggling bullpen, which has a 6.49 ERA this season.

Indians relievers have converted six of 13 save opportunities.

Lyle Overbay grounded out to start the inning but the next five batters reached safely. Raul Chavez and Travis Snider singled off Rafael Perez. Vinnie Chulk (0-1) walked Marco Scutaro and left after Aaron Hill's two-run single made it 6-5.

"You've got to make pitches in that situation and obviously I didn't," Chulk said.

Alex Rios tied it with an RBI single off Jensen Lewis, who was replaced by Tony Sipp after Vernon Wells flied out for the second out. Lind crushed a 1-2 slider into the second deck in right before Rolen homered to left.

"We did everything we could to work through that inning, whether it be to hold the lead or keep it tied, and nobody could get it done today," Wedge said.

Lind said he was looking for the slider and knew what to do when he got one.

"I figured he was going to throw it because I faced him (Monday) night and he threw all fastballs and then he made me look kind of stupid with his first pitch slider," Lind said. "After he came up and in, I figured he was going to try and go down and way with the slider."

Wedge said the Indians have "a lot of work to do" to sort out their bullpen.

"We're going to continue to make changes," Wedge said. "We're going to continue to try people whether they're here or in Triple-A or not even in the organization. We're going to do whatever we have to do to get people down there that we can count on."

Brian Wolfe (1-0) worked 2-3 of an inning in his first appearance since being called up from Triple-A Las Vegas on Friday.

The Indians scored twice in the second. Matt LaPorta was hit by a pitch and came all the way around when Ben Francisco's single skipped past Snider in left and rolled all the way to the wall. Francisco wound up at second, stole third and scored on Grady Sizemore's fielder's choice.

Toronto got one back in the bottom half when Lind singled and scored on Overbay's two-out double.

Lind grounded a two-run single past Indians shortstop Jhonny Peralta in the sixth to put Toronto ahead 3-2.

"That's a play he needs to make," Wedge said. Cleveland starter Anthony "Reyes did a good job of getting a real good hitter to put the ball on the ground right there. It looked like Jhonny broke the wrong way, then he broke late and he just couldn't get back there in time. We had him up the middle where we felt like (Lind) was going to hit the ball. That's where he hit the ball and that's a play that has to be made and we should be out of the inning."

Cleveland answered by batting around in the top of the seventh and scoring four runs against three Blue Jays relievers. Victor Martinez had an RBI single, Asdrubal Cabrera scored on a wild pitch and Peralta capped it with a two-run single.

The first run was charged to right-hander Jason Frasor, ending a streak of 11 scoreless innings to begin the season.

Peralta snapped an 0-for-14 slump with a single in the fourth and finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs.

Making his major league debut, Toronto left-hander Brett Cecil allowed two runs-one earned - and six hits in six innings. He walked none, struck out six and hit three batters.

Reyes allowed three runs and six hits in six innings. Reyes, who has not won in four starts, walked one and struck out five.

Notes



Toronto RHP Scott Richmond was chosen AL Rookie of the Month in April after going 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA in four starts. ... Snider snapped an 0-for-13 streak with a single in the sixth. ... Cecil is the third Toronto starter to make his debut this season, following LHP Ricky Romero and RHP Robert Ray. ... Rolen's homer was his first since April 15 at Minnesota. ... Martinez extended his hitting streak to 14 games, the longest active streak in the AL.

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