ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – Victor Martinez and Ben Broussard hit two-run homers in a seven-run seventh inning, leading the Cleveland Indians to an 11-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Monday night.
Coco Crisp, Grady Sizemore and Jhonny Peralta homered for Cleveland, which has won five straight to move within a percentage point of Oakland and the New York Yankees in the AL wild-card race. It was Cleveland’s eighth straight road win and the Indians (69-56) are a season-high 13 games over .500.
Travis Lee and Jorge Cantu homered for Tampa Bay, which had a five-game winning streak end.
Travis Hafner broke a 4-4 tie in the seventh with a sacrifice fly off reliever Travis Miller (1-1). Martinez followed with his two-run shot. Broussard hit a two-run drive off Jesus Colome before Sizemore and Crisp added RBI singles to make it 11-4.
The seventh inning ended when Devil Rays center fielder Joey Gathright crashed into the wall after making a running catch to take away a potential two-run extra-base hit from Peralta.
Crisp put the Indians up 1-0 in the first with his homer.
Lee hit a three-run homer to give the Devil Rays a 3-1 lead in the second. Lee’s drive came after Aubrey Huff and Jonny Gomes started the inning by drawing walks from Kevin Millwood (7-10). The right-hander had walked only two batters over 29 innings in his four previous starts.
Millwood went six innings, giving up four runs and five hits. He had seven strikeouts and three walks.
Sizemore’s two-run homer and a solo shot by Peralta off Doug Waechter gave the Indians a 4-3 lead in the third. Peralta has 20 homers, three short of tying Woodie Held’s team record for a shortstop set in 1961.
Tampa Bay tied it at 4 in the bottom of the third on Cantu’s solo homer. He is 9-for-18 with four homers and seven RBIs against Cleveland this season.
Waechter allowed four runs and eight hits – including three homers – in six innings. He struck out six and walked one.
Notes: Crisp snapped an 0-for-12 slide with his homer. … Waechter has given up 31 homers in 130 1-3 career innings at Tropicana Field. … Sizemore has four homers and 16 RBIs in his last 16 games. … Lee has 99 homers in his career. … The Indians also hit five homers on June 25 against Cincinnati.
AP-ES-08-22-05 2210EDT
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