ARLINGTON, Texas — Casey Blake’s early power surge got the Cleveland Indians off to a big lead.
They still needed more to outlast the Texas Rangers.
Blake hit two homers, a bases-loaded double and had already matched a career-high seven RBIs, the most by an American League player this season, by the fourth inning. But Cleveland needed a tiebreaking two-run homer in the seventh from Ben Francisco, before David Dellucci added another two-run shot, for a 13-9 victory Monday night.
“You could feel it,” manager Eric Wedge said, after letting out an animated sigh of relief. “We knew we would have to keep scoring, keep taking advantage of opportunities.”
With struggling slugger Travis Hafner on the disabled list, the Indians scored at least 10 runs for the first time in three weeks, and only the fifth time this season.
Blake hit two-run homers in the second and third innings, then added a three-run double in the fourth that made it 8-3.
After Dellucci’s leadoff double in the second, Blake went to the plate trying to advance the runner.
“He got him over, and got him in too,” Wedge said.
“I didn’t feel great,” Blake said. “It’s one of those things. He hung a slider, I went with it and it got in the jet stream. … That just gives you confidence.”
Cleveland loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth, on a walk and two singles, before Blake doubled into the right-field corner. That bases-clearing hit came on the 100th — and last — pitch thrown by rookie Doug Mathis.
Josh Hamilton, chosen Monday as the AL player of the month for May to become the first player to win the monthly award in April and May the same season, homered in his third straight game for Texas. The two-run shot was his AL-best 16th and increased his majors-leading RBI total to 65 in his 58 games.
Marlon Byrd tied the game in the fifth with his fourth career grand slam, off left-hander Aaron Laffey.
“Our offense is good, but you’ve got to hold the other team down,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said after his team allowed 13 runs for the second straight game. “We hope we’ve got it all out of our system the last two days. … They just took it away from us.”
Eddie Guardado (0-1) came on at the start of the seventh, and struck out Grady Sizemore for the second out after allowing a single to No. 9 hitter Asdrubal Cabrera. Reliever Joaquin Benoit then came in and left a breaking ball over the plate on his first pitch for Francisco, whose third homer skimmed the top of the left-field wall and snapped his 3-for-15 slide. That also broke an 8-8 tie.
Dellucci added homer off Benoit in the eighth, a 405-foot shot to straightaway center. Blake then flew out to center before Benoit walked four consecutive batters, the last to Francisco on four pitches, for another run.
“You have to keep scoring runs the first through the ninth innings. They have a knack for coming back,” said Dellucci, who played for the Rangers in 2004 and 2005 and had at least a dozen family members from Louisiana in attendance. “You’ve got to keep putting heat on those guys.”
Masa Kobayashi (3-2) allowed a hit and a run with three strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings.
Left-hander Aaron Laffey allowed eight runs and 11 hits over five innings. Since being recalled April 28 from Triple-A Buffalo, he had allowed only seven earned runs in six previous starts — and four of those came in his first game back.
Ian Kinsler led off the Texas fifth with a double and came home on Michael Young’s single. After Hamilton singled and Milton Bradley walked to load the bases, Byrd hit the Rangers’ fifth grand slam this season.
Young and Kinsler both went 3-for-5 to extend their hitting streaks, Young to 18 consecutive games for the longest in the AL this season, one more than Kinsler’s career-best streak. The Rangers finished with 15 hits, one less than Cleveland, which got three-hit games from Blake and Jhonny Peralta.
“Our offense isn’t having any problems right now. We’re putting up runs but we’re not getting the wins,” Kinsler said. “We can all swing the bat in this locker room. It’s frustrating. When you put up that many runs, you expect to win.”

Notes

Mathis started in place of Vicente Padilla, who was placed on bereavement leave while still home in his native Nicaragua dealing with a personal family matter.
• It was Blake’s eighth career multihomer game, his first since Sept. 30, 2006 against Tampa Bay. His other seven-RBI game was July 5, 2003, at Minnesota.
• Philadelphia’s Jayson Werth had eight RBIs against Toronto on May 16.
• Indians third base coach Joel Skinner missed the game to attend his son’s high school graduation from Bay High. Bench coach Jeff Datz coached third.

Westbrook back on DL

Cleveland right-hander Jake Westbrook has been scratched from today’s scheduled start and is headed back to the disabled list.
Westbrook will be placed on the disabled list because of right elbow inflammation. The DL move will be retroactive to Thursday, the day after his last start.
Westbrook (1-2, 3.12 ERA) has been bothered by the elbow since his last appearance Wednesday, when he was activated from the DL before the game after being out since April 19 because of a strained left rib muscle. He gave up three runs and five hits in five innings against the Chicago White Sox without a decision.
The Indians will call up a pitcher from the minor leagues to start tonight. They didn’t announce who that would be.
In other news, trainer Lonnie Soloff said designated hitter Travis Hafner won’t pick up a bat until later this week.
Hafner, who went on the disabled list Friday because of a sore right shoulder, is doing exercises to strengthen his shoulder and rotator cuff. But that doesn’t include swinging a bat.
Hafner, hitting only .217 with four home runs, has been bothered by the shoulder since spring training. He hasn’t played since May 24.
Right-hander Fausto Carmona (4-2, 3.10 ERA) is expected to play catch from 60 feet today, the first step in his rehabilitation from a left hip strain that has had him on the disabled list since May 24.
In other news, Reliever Tom Mastny was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo by the ndians, who optioned infielder Michael Aubrey back to the minors.
Mastny will be joining the Indians for the second time this season. The right-hander didn’t have a decision and had a 10.80 ERA in two appearances for Cleveland before he was optioned to the Bisons on May 11. He went 1-0 with a 3.14 ERA in 11 appearances for Buffalo.
Aubrey homered in his first at-bat for the Indians and batted .185 with two homers and two RBIs in nine games.
The Indians will open a four-game series in Texas Monday night with the AL’s lowest batting average (.233). After winning 96 games last season, Cleveland is just 25-31 and batted went just 12-15 while batting only .218 in May, the lowest one-month average in the majors since 2003.

TONIGHT

WHO: Cleveland at Texas
TIME: 8:05
WHERE: Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas
PITCHERS: To be determined vs. Murray (1-0, 3.38)
TV/RADIO: SportsTime Ohio; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

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