Cleveland – With the strikeouts piling up, Jhonny Peralta figured he might as well swing away, too.
Peralta hit the first pitch he saw for a game- winning RBI single with one out in the 11th inning to give the Cleveland Indians an 8-7 victory Wednesday night over the Texas Rangers, who fanned out a team-record 19 times.
“I was going to swing at anything,” Peralta said. “I put it in play and it found a hole.”
Victor Martinez doubled down the right-field line to open the 11th off Willie Eyre (1-1) and took third on Kelly Shoppach’s ground single to center. After Jason Michaels struck out, Peralta, in a 3-for-36 (.091) slump, hit a grounder just out of the reach of diving third baseman Hank Blalock to drive in Martinez for the win.
The teams combined for 32 strikeouts.
TIGERS 6, WHITE SOX 2 at Chicago: Magglio Ordoñez had three hits and three RBIs against his former team, and Chad Durbin (1-1) went eight scoreless innings for Detroit.
With the rain coming down and pitching in a cool 47 degrees, Joel Zumaya couldn’t find the strike zone and complete the shutout, walking four and allowing two runs in two-thirds of an inning. Todd Jones finished off the four-hitter by getting Brian Anderson to ground out with the bases loaded.
MARINERS 2, ATHLETICS 0 at Oakland, Calif.: Jarrod Washburn (1-2) pitched a three-hitter for his third career shutout, allowing just one runner to reach second base.
Joe Blanton (2-1) pitched a six-hitter for Oakland but gave up homers to Jose Guillen and Kenji Johjima.
RED SOX 6, ORIOLES 1 at Baltimore: Curt Schilling (3-1) pitched seven innings of five-hit ball, David Ortiz drove in the tiebreaking with a bloop single in the seventh, and Boston scored five runs over the final three innings to avoid its first three-game skid of the season.
ROYALS 4, TWINS 3 at Minneapolis: David DeJesus had three hits, including a home run, and Mike Sweeney also homered as Kansas City dealt Minnesota its fourth consecutive loss.
ANGELS 9, DEVIL RAYS 1 at Anaheim, Calif.: Gary Matthews Jr. and Garret Anderson hit two-run doubles, and Los Angeles took advantage of three Tampa Bay errors to score four unearned runs to help John Lackey (3-2) improve to 7-1 against the Devil Rays.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
