"Great teams go through adversity," Damon said, "and this is ours right now."
While the Sox remained lost at the plate for the first eight innings -- things got so bad that David Ortiz could muster little more than a meek smile when Japanese reliever Kazuhito Tadano tried to fool him with a 52-mile-an-hour eephus pitch -- they faltered in the field almost as badly as they flailed with the bats. Third baseman Bill Mueller, one of the team's surest arms, committed two costly throwing errors that cleared the way for the Indians to score five unearned runs against Derek Lowe in the fourth inning.
"I lost this game for these guys," Mueller said. "It was just two bad throws. It's pretty basic."
The loss also cost the Sox sole possession of first place in the American League East, as the Yankees caught them with a 10-8 comeback win later last night in Oakland. The Sox had been alone atop the division since April 24.
"We'll keep trying to do the right thing," manager Terry Francona said. "There's no doubt in my mind that we're a very good team and we'll bounce right back."
All the bounces last night seemed to go Cleveland's way as the Indians exploited Lowe's sinkerball, spraying grounders from one foul line to the other. Less sharp than usual, Lowe allowed the Tribe to find enough holes to run up the seven runs on 10 hits, two walks, and Mueller's errors over five-plus innings. Lowe fell to 3-2 even though his ERA dropped to 4.72.
The Indians, rather than trying to pull Lowe's sinker, spent much of the night pounding it to the opposite field or up the middle.
"It was a frustrating night because I felt going into the game we had a pretty good game plan," Lowe said. "I give them credit. They made adjustments, and that's what this game is about. They had me running all over the field, basically."
Trailing, 2-1, the Sox let the game slip away amid the fourth-inning mayhem. After the Indians scored twice on Mueller's errors, Lowe seemed poised to take control when Matt Lawton bounced into a doube play, which allowed another run for a 5-1 Cleveland lead.
