"Kerry Wood's last pitch of the night was a strike. That it consisted of his glove sailing directly to a fan in the fourth row tells the tale. Kerry Wood made a mess of his first save opportunity this season, giving up five runs in one-third of an inning as the Royals beat the Indians, 8-4, Wednesday at Progressive Field. The Indians took a 4-3 lead in the seventh on an RBI single by Travis Hafner. After Tony Sipp worked the eighth, Wood entered in search of his first save since Sept. 25, 2009. A leadoff triple by Mike Aviles ignited the Kansas City uprising. Wood gave up an RBI double to Billy Butler, walked in a run and served up a three-run double to Yuniesky Betancourt. Jamey Wright relieved. Before reaching the dugout, Wood pulled a Cliff Lee in Toronto from earlier in the century and chucked his glove into the stands. The main differences: Lee's traveled farther, and Lee also tossed in his cap. "Irrelevant," said Wood about the glove toss. He allowed four hits and walked two. "Had nothing to do with the game." Asked if he felt as sharp as he needs to be, Wood said: "Obviously, with giving up a five-spot, I'm not [expletive] sharp." The Indians (15-23) have lost three in a row. "We just did that to another club," Indians manager Manny Acta said of Kansas City's big ninth. "What goes around, comes around." Last Saturday in Baltimore, the Indians scored eight in the ninth for an 8-2 victory. The Tribe went 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position Wednesday. The Royals were 5-for-20 with RISP in improving to 16-25. Kansas City is 1-23 when trailing after eight. The AL Central's two worst clubs needed 3 hours, 39 minutes, to settle their latest duel. Eleven pitchers combined to throw 386 pitches. The Tribe took a 1-0 lead in the second. Hafner led off with a single to left and moved to second when Austin Kearns was hit by a high off-speed pitch from Gil Meche. After Russell Branyan struck out, Jhonny Peralta grounded to short. A quality slide by Kearns helped force second baseman Aviles into a bad throw to first, Hafner scoring. " http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2010/05/indians_defeat_royals_x-x.html
