09:44 26Apr2007 RTRS-Baseball-Peralta's 11th-inning hit seals victory for Indians
NEW YORK, April 25 - Jhonny Peralta drove in a run in the 11th inning to lift the Cleveland Indians to an 8-7 win over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday, their fourth straight victory.
Peralta swung at the first pitch Willie Eyre threw him and connected, driving in Victor Martinez, who had doubled.
"That's what I had in my mind," Peralta told reporters. "Whatever he threw, I was going to swing at."
The Indians squandered a 6-0 lead, scoring five runs in the second inning and pushing the margin to 6-0 on Travis Hafner's run-scoring single in the fourth.
But Texas hit back with five runs in the sixth, including a two-run double by Sammy Sosa.
Cleveland added a run in the seventh, but Sosa again brought the Rangers within one through a run-scoring single in the eighth.
Texas then tied it at 7-7 in the ninth on Michael Young's double, but Cleveland finally ended the four-hour game with Peralta's single to left field.
"These are the games we lost last year," Indians' pitcher C.C. Sabathia told reporters. "So for us to come back and win this game, it's huge."
Sabathia had pitched five scoreless innings before being rocked for five runs in the sixth. He struck out eight and walked one.
*Curt Schilling won his third game with five-hit ball for seven innings and the Boston Red Sox ended a two-game skid with a 6-1 road win over the Baltimore Orioles.
*Chad Durbin gave up only three hits in eight innings to help the Detroit Tigers hold off the Chicago White Sox with a 6-2 road win.
*The Toronto Blue Jays' game with the Yankees in New York was postponed because of rain.