The Indians won their seventh game in the last at-bat Saturday night. It took 10 innings and a game-winning single from Matt LaPorta, their hottest hitter, to do it.
CLEVELAND -- Baseball luck can change in an instant. No one knows why, it just does.
A week ago the Indians were riding a seven-game losing streak. As bad as that sounds, they played worse. Then, just like that, came a five-game winning streak, their longest of the season.
It was momentarily interrupted Friday night by the Oakland A's and their 3-0 victory. Saturday night, the Indians righted themselves with a 5-4 victory in 10 innings over the same A's and they didn't have to schedule a meeting with LeBron James to make it happen.
All it took was Matt LaPorta's two-out single to score pinch-runner Anderson Hernandez from second base with the winning run. Travis Hafner's one-out double off former Indian Craig Breslow made the victory possible. When Jhonny Peralta, who played a great game at third base, sent a long fly ball to center field, it looked like the game was over, but the ball died on the track.
LaPorta and Breslow (3-2) dueled until the count was full. Then LaPorta bounced a single into center field to finish it.
"I hit a fastball," said LaPorta, 9-for-20 with three homers and seven RBI since rejoining the Indians on June 27 from Class AAA Columbus. "All I'm trying to do is hit the ball hard. I just treated it like my first or second at-bat of the game."
The win went to Tony Sipp in another impressive performance by a bullpen that still has the fattest ERA in the American League. Sipp (1-2) pitched his way around Ryan Sweeney's one-out double in the 10th for his first victory of the season.
"The bullpen has been solid," manager Manny Acta said. "Whenever we're in this kind of groove, they're part of it."
The Indians led, 2-0 and 4-3, but couldn't hold either lead.
After Trevor Crowe opened the game with a single, Jayson Nix crushed an 0-1 pitch from Clayton Mortensen for a two-run homer high over the left-field wall for a 2-0 lead. Mortensen retired the next three batters and the Indians really never threatened him again in his first big-league start of the season.
Jason Donald put the A's back in the game in the third. Yes, Donald started at short for the Indians.
Donald's two errors led to Oakland's 3-2 lead. Adam Rosales opened with a double off Jake Westbrook. Gabe Gross sent a grounder to short, but Donald's throw to first was off line to put runners at the corners. Cliff Pennington tripled off the fence in center to make it a 2-2 game.
Coco Crisp reached on Donald's second error of the inning. The ball skipped off Donald's glove and into center field as Pennington scored for a 3-2 lead. After Daric Barton walked, Kevin Kouzmanoff hit into a double play and Kurt Suzuki lined out to third.
The Indians gave the A's five outs in the inning, two more than required.
"Errors happen," Westbrook said. "I've got to do a better job picking Jason up, and I've got to do a better job against Pennington. I'm lucky he didn't hit a home run."
Said Acta: "Everyone says play the kids. If you do that, you have to have patience."
Shoddy defense put the Indians back on top, 4-3, in the fourth. Austin Kearns singled and Peralta walked with two out. LaPorta singled to left as the ball sped between Gross' legs. Kearns scored on the single and Peralta was waved home to score on the error.
Westbrook held the one-run lead through six. He didn't come out for the seventh after 97 pitches. Lefty Rafael Perez replaced Westbrook and he entered on a roll. He'd made 14 consecutive appearances without allowing an earned run. He almost made it 15.
Perez had two out with Pennington on third thanks to a one-out double and Crisp's ground out. He had left-handed hitting Barton down in the count when Barton rolled a ball down the third baseline with Peralta playing off the bag. The ball glanced off the bag for a single to make it 4-4.
It was the first earned run Perez allowed since May 31.
Westbrook allowed two earned runs on four hits in six innings. He struck out one and walked three.
Mortensen gave a good account of himself. The A's called him up from Class AAA Sacramento when scheduled starter Dallas Braden was placed on the disabled list with of a sore left elbow. He allowed four runs, three earned, on six hits over six innings.