Indians score seven in 11th to even series <h3>CLEVELAND 13, BOSTON 6 (11 INNINGS)</h3>By Tom Covill PA SportsTicker Staff Writer BOSTON (Ticker) -- For the second night in a row, the battlebetween outstanding starting pitchers never materialized, so apair of top-notch bullpens stared each other down until an oldhero had a chance to ruin the party. Trot Nixon drove in the winning run with a single in the top ofthe 11th inning to lead the Cleveland Indians to a 13-6 victoryover the Boston Red Sox in Game Two of the American LeagueChampionship Series that lasted 5 hours, 14 minutes. Franklin Gutierrez capped a seven-run explosion in the 11thframe with a three-run homer for the Indians, who evened thebest-of-seven series at one game a piece and return home to hostGame Three on Monday. "We showed some resiliency," Nixon said. "To start something upin the 11th inning, it's kind of ridiculous to be playing at1:30 in the morning, but you don't get these opportunities toomuch." After C.C. Sabathia and Josh Beckett, who combined for 39 winsin the regular season, hooked up in Game One, Cleveland sent19-game winner Fausto Carmona to the mound against CurtSchilling, whose 1.93 postseason ERA was the best in history.Both hurlers were coming off outstanding starts in the ALDS butneither lasted long Saturday. Carmona didn't get an out in the fifth, being charged with fourruns, four hits and five walks. Schilling, staked to a 3-1third-inning lead, lasted just 4 2/3 innings, allowing five runsand nine hits. "Everything about this one falls on me," Schilling said. "We puttogether a great inning to take a lead, and I forced ourbullpen into a situation. You're asking your bullpen to put up alot of zeros and it's not fair. "It's about me coming up small in a big game," he added. Nixon was drafted by the Red Sox in the first round in 1993 andspent his entire professional career with the organizationbefore signing with Cleveland as a free agent in the offseason.The 33-year-old outfielder was a member of the 2004 World Serieswinning team and therefore will have a place in the hearts of Red Sox Nation for the foreseeable future, though that stancemay have softened some on Saturday. The lefthanded hitter came up with one out in the bottom of the11th inning with two runners on. Boston countered withlefthanded reliever Javier Lopez, who started Nixon off with aball before the former Red Sox drove a single into center fieldto snap a 6-6 deadlock. "If anyone knows this ball park, it's Trot Nixon," Lopez said."He knows the atmosphere here and he wasn't intimidated by anymeans and he looked relaxed. I've had the experience of facinghim before and I threw a good pitch and he put enough barrel onit to get it into the outfield and give his team the lead." "I knew they had a couple of lefties left in the bullpen, I wasjust excited to get a chance," Nixon said. "Lopez can bedifficult on lefthanders. He's a submariner. I just shortened upand put enough bat on the ball and snuck it in. It wasn't hitthat well." The floodgates opened for the Indians after that, as they piledon six more runs in the frame for a blowout win. "We always say it's better to be lucky than good sometimes andwith Trot, that's one thing you can say, he got the ball to getin there," Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis said. "Trot's atough out and we never like to see him up there in thatsituation but it's tough, tough to lose that game." "Trot hadn't faced a lot of lefties in quite some time, but hehad a good at-bat and it unravelled from there," Boston managerTerry Francona added. "A frustrating end to an exciting game. Eric Gagne (0-1) was charged with the loss after surrendering awalk and a hit before yielding to Lopez. Gagne, who wasacquired at the trading deadline in July to stabilize thebullpen, had a 6.75 ERA in 20 appearances with Boston before theplayoffs and had been resigned to mop-up duty before cominginto Saturday's tie game. The Red Sox looked to be winning the battle of two strongbullpens before the 11th-inning meltdown, with four relieverscombining for 5 1/3 scoreless frames before Gagne was chargedwith two runs, Lopez charged with three and lefthander JonLester charged with two in the 11th. The Indians' bullpen combined to toss 6 2/3 scoreless inningsafter Rafael Perez yielded back-to-back homers in the fifthinning. Tom Mastny (1-0) pitched a scoreless 10th for the win. Both teams had their chances to win in the ninth, with theIndians missing an opportunity to drive in a run from secondbase with Ryan Garko at the plate and reliever Rafael Betancourtwinning a 12-pitch at-bat with Youkilis to end the Red Sox'sthreat in the bottom of the frame. "It's just one of those things," said Youkilis of his linedrive. "You do everything right and sometimes it doesn't payoff. There's a lot of luck involved in this game. You get ontop of that ball just a little bit more, you get on top of it.You can sit here and be the Monday morning quarterback." "We took home-field advantage back," Garko said. "We're goingback in front of our fans. It's huge, especially with CurtSchilling on the mound. We know how good he is and what a greatpostseason pitcher he is. We knew it would be a tough testtonight so it will be a nice plane ride home." Betancourt pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings before yielding toMastny, who did what has been nearly impossible for pitchers sofar this postseason, retiring David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez andMike Lowell in order to extend the game to an 11th frame. Ramirez homered in the fifth to tie the game at 5-5. It was his23rd career postseason home run, making him the all-timeleader. Lowell then followed with a solo blast, putting the theRed Sox back on top, 6-5. Cleveland came back to tie the score, 6-6, in the sixth whenGutierrez grounded out to score Peralta from third. Peralta hita three-run homer in the fourth for a 4-3 lead.
