CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Asdrubal Cabrera stayed red-hot with three hits, including the game-winning RBI in the eighth inning, to give the Cleveland Indians a 3-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Monday and their fourth successive win.
The Major League-leading Indians (30-15) trailed 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth but rallied when Michael Brantley hit an RBI single to tie the score at 2-2 before Cabrera followed with an RBI double.
"This feels awesome," Cabrera told reporters. "(Brantley) had a great at-bat in front of me. I was just looking to put the ball in play."
Cabrera, who went 5-for-5 with five RBIs in Sunday's win against the Cincinnati Reds, also had a solo home run in the fourth to tie the game 1-1.
Cleveland starter Justin Masterson tossed 7 2/3 innings and allowed a run in the third and a solo homer to Carl Crawford in the fifth inning of his no-decision.
Reliever Joe Smith was credited with the win after recording the final out of the eighth while Chris Perez pitched the ninth where he had Boston runners on first and third before getting a game-ending double-play for his 13th save of the season.
Boston (25-22) remained half a game out of first place in the American League East while the surprising Indians maintained their seven-game lead in the AL Central.
The start of the game was delayed about an hour because of rain, creating slippery conditions, which caused Boston's Dustin Pedroia to slip and injure his left foot while running the bases in the eighth. He was cleared of any serious injury after the game.
Boston starter Clay Buchholz was relieved in the bottom of the eighth with a 2-1 lead and a man on second base but the Indians then came up with two, two-out hits against reliever Daniel Bard who took the loss.
"When they hit pitches you're trying to throw, there's not much you can do about it," Bard said.
(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)
