Pronkitude! Tightrope Saves! Spills, Chills and Thrills Aplenty!

Pronk went yard in the first inning last night to stake the Tribe to a first inning lead for the second night in a row, and the Indians survived another bizarre save by Joe Borowski to hold on to a 6-5 victory over the now not-quite-so-hot-as-they-were Twins.


Grady Sizemore also went deep for the Tribe and Asdrubal Cabrera, Ryan Garko and Jhonny Peralta all came up with big RBIs, as the Tribe extended their AL Central lead to 3.5 games over the Tigers and 7.5 games over the Twins. Last night the Motor City Kitties lost 6-3 to the Royals.

With the Tribe leading 6-3 going into the ninth, Joe Borowski came in and promptly gave up Brian Buscher's first major league home run. After inducing Rondell White to pop up, Borowski gave up a bunt single to Jason Tyner, and then Jason Bartlett hit what looked like an inning-ending double play down the third base line, where Casey Blake, playing on the line to prevent doubles, was hunched over ready to field the ball. Because Joe Borowski was on the mound, however, the ball hit the base and took a crazy hop right through Casey Blake's legs for a double, putting the tying run on second base. After retiring Torii Hunter on a sac fly, Borowski then struck out Justin Morneau looking with a wicked slider on the outside corner and Cleveland was able to breathe again. I'll say it again - Joe Knows Closing.

The game also featured a phenomenal catch by Torii Hunter in centerfield, who robbed Blake of extra bases with a full speed leaping catch, after which he hit the wall hard and laid on the turf for a couple minutes, clearly winded. Nick Punto also made a nice barehanded stop of a bouncer up the middle to get Ryan Garko.

With this win, the Indians have now guaranteed their fourth straight series victory, and have won four in a row and eight of their last twelve. Pronk has a 5 game hit streak and has raised his average to .256.

Mojo Watch
Pronk: Pronk looks like he's coming around.

Indians Bats: The two-out clutch hitting continues.

Indians Pitching: Although neither Westbrook nor Byrd nor Borowski cruised, they are getting the job done, and the Two Raffies (Betancourt and Perez) are locking down opponents.

Indians Overall: No reason to reduce them from 4 Elvi. They're getting the job done, this series against a good team that needed to win to stay in the pennant race. It's nice to see the Indians exposing the Twinkies for the pretenders that they are.

Next up: Santana vs. Sabathia. So far the Indians have managed not to lose to Santana this year. Here's hoping the trend continues.