Can You Say 'Win'?

Forget the fastball, somebody get a translator. The Indians held off the Boston Red Sox 7-6, Tuesday night at Jacobs Field, but almost misinterpreted it all away.

The Red Sox rallied for four runs in the ninth inning, helped when rookie Kazuhito Tadano gave up a three-run homer to Johnny Damon on a pitch he wasn't supposed to throw.

Tadano pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Jason Davis (1-2) and took a 7-2 lead into the ninth -- where so many Indians victories have gone to die already this year.

Tadano seemed to run out of gas as he gave up one run and put two more on base with one out. With left-hander Damon striding to the plate, Indians manager Eric Wedge had lefty Scott Stewart warming up in the bullpen and signaled for catcher Victor Martinez to instruct Tadano to keep throwing over to first base -- buying some warm-up time for Stewart.

Martinez, a young catcher from Venezuela, and Tadano, a Japanese right-hander in his second week in the majors, got the signs all fouled up. Tadano threw a fastball and Damon deposited it into the seats in right-center for a three-run homer to make it 7-6.

"There was a miscommunication," Wedge said. "We had a young catcher and a Japanese pitcher and the worst-case scenario happened there. That can't happen again."

Stewart came on and got one out, but gave up another hit.

Wedge then called upon new closer Rafael Betancourt, another Venezuelan -- who struck out Dominican and former Indians slugger Manny Ramirez for his second save in two nights.

That gave Cleveland its fourth win in a row and sent the reeling Red Sox to their fifth consecutive loss. Matt Lawton had three hits and Martinez drove in two runs as the Indians won for the sixth time in seven games.

Davis gave up two runs and six hits over six innings, including a towering blast by Ramirez that landed about five rows from the top of the left-field bleachers.

Third baseman Bill Mueller's two throwing errors helped the Indians score five unearned runs in the fourth off Boston starter Derek Lowe (3-2). Mueller twice threw wildly to second base after fielding grounders.

"I'm stating the obvious when I say I lost the game," Mueller told reporters. "Derek was doing great and I made two bad throws."

Cleveland took a 2-0 lead in the first. Lawton singled and scored all the way from first on Omar Vizquel's opposite-field double into the left-field corner. Martinez singled home Vizquel.

Tadano was in position to record a save for having pitched effectively for three innings until his ninth-inning troubles. For the first time since being recalled last week from Triple-A Buffalo, the right-hander threw his bizarre ultra-changeup that is sometimes known as a "parachute pitch."

He tossed one to David Ortiz that registered 52 mph on the radar gun. Ortiz just stared in disbelief and smiled. Later, he tossed a 56-mph pitch that Jason Varitek fouled off.

Those pitches were quite the contrast to what Davis and Betancourt were throwing. Davis blew one strike past Ramirez that was clocked at 99 mph in the early going. Betancourt fanned the Red Sox slugger on a 92-mph heater to end the game.