Blake powers Indians past Rangers

Baseball Betting Lines

06/03/2008 - Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Casey Blake tied career highs with two home runs and seven runs batted in, as he helped the Cleveland Indians win a slugfest, 13-9, over Texas in the opener of a four-game set.

Blake finished with three hits, while Ben Francisco went 2-for-5 with a two- run homer and David Dellucci added two hits and a two-run blast of his own. Jhonny Peralta also had three hits, including a double, for the Indians, who snapped a two-game losing streak and had scored 13 runs in their past four games combined.

Starter Aaron Laffey lasted five innings and gave up eight runs on 11 hits for Cleveland, which lost two of three to Texas in late May. Masa Kobayashi (3-2) picked up the win by throwing 1 2/3 frames and allowing just one run.

Josh Hamilton slugged a two-run homer, while Marlon Byrd added a grand slam for the Rangers, who put together 15 hits but lost their second consecutive game. Ian Kinsler and Michael Young each added three hits for Texas.

Doug Mathis struggled in his start for the Rangers, as he also gave up eight runs, on 12 hits in just 3 2/3 innings. But Eddie Guardado (0-1) took the loss after surrendering one run in the seventh inning.

After the Rangers trimmed their deficit to a run late in the game, Dellucci gave Cleveland some breathing room in the eighth. He hit the Indians' fourth and final homer, a two-run shot that just cleared the center field wall. Later in the frame, Joaquin Benoit had control issues and issued three straight free passes with two outs before walking Francisco to force in a run and push Cleveland's lead to 13-9.

Rafael Perez worked a scoreless bottom of the eighth, and Joe Borowski set the Rangers down in order in the ninth to close out the game.

After a scoreless first inning, the game came to life in the second when Dellucci hit a lead-off double and Blake slammed a two-run shot to right- center field for a 2-0 Indians lead.

A Jarrod Saltalamacchia single in the home half of the inning plated Chris Shelton, who had doubled in the prior at-bat, to get the Rangers back within one.

Blake, though, answered in the next frame with another two-run homer with two outs. Dellucci grounded into a double play with two runners on base, leaving Ryan Garko on third. Blake came up and smacked the ball to left field for a 4-1 Cleveland edge.

Shin-Soo Choo followed with a single and came around on an Asdrubal Cabrera double for a four-run Indians lead.

But in the bottom half, the Rangers came back with a two-run homer off the hot bat of Hamilton, who increased his home run total to 16.

Though, just as Texas had gotten its deficit down to 5-3, Cleveland expanded its lead once more. A walk to Victor Martinez, and singles from Garko and Peralta left the bases loaded with one out.

Dellucci then struck out, but that only set the stage for Blake, and the third baseman again delivered by roping a double to right. It cleared the bases, gave Blake seven total RBI, and pushed Cleveland's advantage to 8-3.

The next two half-innings went quietly, without a run scored, but in the bottom of the fifth the Rangers knotted the game on a big blast.

Kinsler led off with a double and Young plated him with a single. Hamilton then singled and Bradley walked to load the bases with one out. Laffey got David Murphy to pop out, but Byrd slugged a first-pitch fastball over the right-center field wall for an 8-8 score.

The back-and-forth game continued in the seventh. Guardado came out of the Texas bullpen and got two outs, but allowed a single to Cabrera. He was lifted in favor of Benoit, who Francisco greeted with a two-run homer to left.

Shelton drove in Murphy with a two-out single in the bottom half to bring the Rangers within 10-9.

Game Notes

Cleveland had 16 hits and, despite the offensive output, still left 11 runners on base...Blake has six homers this season...It was Byrd's fourth career grand slam...Mathis threw 100 pitches...Monday, the Rangers placed pitcher Vicente Padilla on Major League Baseball's bereavement list to tend to a family emergency in Nicaragua...Hamilton was named the American League Player of the Month for May on Monday...Cleveland optioned infielder Michael Aubrey to Triple-A Buffalo and recalled pitcher Tom Mastny from Buffalo on Monday. The Indians announced that Jake Westbrook has been scratched from his scheduled start Tuesday and will likely return to the disabled list. An official roster move will be made Tuesday.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.


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