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| When their second-inning outburst against Mark Buehrle did not prove to be enough, the Indians went back for seconds Monday. The second helping was sufficient. Casey Blake's bases-clearing double off Octavio Dotel with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth propelled the Tribe to a 10-8 victory over the White Sox in front of a sellout crowd of 41,872 on Opening Day at Progressive Field. C.C. Sabathia, making his fifth and potentially last Opening Day start for the Indians, did not exactly turn in a Cy Young-worthy performance. Rather, it was an uneven outing in which he gave up five runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings and was victimized twice by two-run homers off the bat of former teammate Jim Thome. But Sabathia also had a lot of help. The Indians unloaded on Buehrle in the second inning. With the bases loaded, Asdrubal Cabrera hit into a fielder's choice that scored one run, and Franklin Gutierrez brought everybody home with a three-run blast that just barely crept above the 19-foot wall in left field to make it 4-2. With two out, Grady Sizemore ripped a solo shot to right. And after Jason Michaels walked, Travis Hafner knocked him home with a double. Pronk then came home on Victor Martinez's RBI single. It was an offensive onslaught marred only by Martinez's misfortune on the basepaths. Martinez felt tightness in his left hamstring while trying to advance to second on a ball in the dirt and came out of the game. He is day-to-day and was replaced by Kelly Shoppach. Sabathia had a 7-2 lead to work with, and he needed it. He gave up Thome's second two-run homer in the third and an RBI single to A.J. Pierzynski in the sixth to make it 7-5. The Indians' bullpen couldn't preserve that suddenly slim margin. In the seventh, Rafael Perez inherited two runners from Jensen Lewis and let both across on a Paul Konerko double. The game was tied at 7. It remain tied, even after the White Sox threatened with the bases loaded and none out against Rafael Betancourt in the eighth. Joe Crede was gunned down at the plate on a throw from Jhonny Peralta and catch and tag from Shoppach that elicited an argument from White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. Minutes later, Guillen would be back to argue again, after Thome hit into a double play made possible by the interference called on runner Orlando Cabrera at second. That controversial play brought new life to a sleeping Tribe offense, which hadn't had a runner at second base since the second inning. They loaded the bases on Dotel, and Blake, often derided for hitting .190 with runners in scoring position last season, was the hero when his double bounced off the left-field wall. |