Efficient Arroyo, Ortiz, Nixon give Tribe no shot

09:01 AM EDT on Wednesday, June 22, 2005

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

CLEVELAND -- There are precious few times during the course of a season when the game of baseball looks easy at the big-league level.

But last night was one of those games for Boston starter Bronson Arroyo and slugger David Ortiz, whose dominance on the mound and at the plate, respectively, paved the way for the Red Sox' 9-2 romp at Jacobs Field over the previously red-hot Cleveland Indians.

Arroyo limited Cleveland to one run -- on a wild pitch with two outs in his seventh and final inning -- on only four hits. Ortiz, meanwhile, clubbed a pair of homers that, combined with a long sacrifice fly, accounted for Boston's first four runs.

And when the game got semi-hairy, thanks to another scary bullpen performance, Trot Nixon made a sensational leaping catch in Spiderman-like fashion up against the right-field fence in the eighth, saving John Halama's bacon and permitting the Sox to breathe easier.

By the time Manny Ramirez launched a long two-run homer in the ninth, the Red Sox were well on their way to nailing down their eighth victory in the last nine game. In the process, Boston has handed the Indians two straight defeats on the heels of their nine-game winning streak.

It all starts, of course, with pitching. And Arroyo supplied that, winning for the second straight outing after having fallen into a bit of a slump.

"He was very, very good," said manager Terry Francona. "He used his fastball aggressively, and because he did, that made his breaking ball even better."

The truth was that Arroyo felt extremely comfortable going into the start because the youthful Indians reminded him a lot of the similarly youthful Texas Rangers' lineup. They are aggressive hitters. So Arroyo, who limited the Rangers to two runs in seven innings in a 9-2 win on April 30, followed a similar game plan, and with similar success.

AP photo

The Red Sox' David Ortiz watches the flight of the ball on his two-run homer to center field off the Indians' Kevin Millwood in the first inning last night.

"I mixed and matched my pitches. I probably threw more changeups in this game than I have all year, but there are just some lineups that you go into a game and you feel comfortable pitching to," said Arroyo, whose record improved to 6-3 while his earned-run average dropped to 4.02.

Ortiz, meanwhile, had never faced Cleveland starter Kevin Millwood before, but you would never have known it from his at-bats. He drilled a two-run homer to center in the first inning, lofted a sacrifice fly to deep right in the second and clouted a solo homer to right on the first pitch he saw in the fifth.

"He's got good stuff, so you don't want to let a guy like that get (ahead) of you," said Ortiz, who obviously had checked out a scouting report of Millwood.

It was the fourth multiple-homer game of the season for Ortiz, and the 15th of his career. The power show boosted his season total to 18, and vaulted him into at least a temporary lead in the league's RBI race, with 62.

"You're not going to get a hit every time, but when you are swinging the bat well, you take your chances," said Ortiz, who later added a single.

His contributions have not gone unnoticed.

"Ortiz just never stops, home run after home run," said Arroyo. "In the three years I've been here he's been so clutch it isn't even funny."

"He has been so good and so consistent," added Francona. "Even when he takes an 0-for-4, the other team isn't dying to face him because they know if they make a mistake he can hit the ball out."

Despite the superb performances of Arroyo and Ortiz, though, Nixon's highlight-reel catch not only was eye-popping, it was important, too.

The bases were filled with one out and the Sox leading, 7-1, in the eighth. Ben Broussard lofted a deep drive to right that, off the bat and the way the ball was carrying, had the look of a grand slam.

Nixon gave chase, leaped and snagged the ball at the top of the fence. The ball likely wouldn't have gone out, but it would have been a three-run double at the very least, which would have knocked the lead down to 7-4.

Instead, it was just a sacrifice fly, and the rest was easy.

"That was the play of the game," said Francona. "If that ball goes out or doesn't get caught, that's a whole different ballgame. It changes the whole complexion of the game."

"I didn't think it was hit that well," said Nixon, who also did a fine job of cutting a ball off in the gap earlier in the game, though he did commit his first error of the season.

"I didn't think the ball would go that far. I had a bead on it. I took a quick glance at the fence so I could see where I'd need to set myself to have a chance (to jump) for the ball," said Nixon.

He jumped, and made it look easy, which summed up the Sox' performance in all aspects of their victory last night.