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1B Jeff Clement (photo) clubbed his 4th home run in 6 games with the Indians to break a 4-4 tie and give the Tribe the win over the Knights at Victory Field tonight. �Phil Dumatrait made his first of at least two rehab starts for the Indians, and pitched 5 innings, though he was not involved in the decision. �The Indians posted 10 hits, and one team or the other scored in each of the first 7 innings.

The Indians drew first blood in the bottom of the 1st inning. �RF Jose Tabata, in his first Victory Field game, lined a single into right field with one out. �LF Brian Myrow followed with a liner into the left field corner, and the speedy Tabata scored from first base. �

The lead lasted only a few minutes. �Phil Dumatrait had retired the Knights in order in the 1st inning, but gave up a solo home run to LF Michael Restovich to lead off the 2nd inning, tying the score at 1-1. �After a ground out, Dumatrait walked DH Wilson Betemit, then gave up a double to C Tyler Flowers. �The throw in from CF Chris Barnwell was up the third base line, and Betemit scored easily. �A baserunning mistake �by Flowers helped to keep the Knights from scoring more runs that inning. �RF Stefan Gartrell grounded to short, and with the play developing in front of him and no runner coming from first base behind him, Flowers should have held at second base. �But he took off for third, and Tribe SS Argenis Diaz had an easy play (photo sequence). �

Diaz threw to 3B Neil Walker, who relayed back to 2B Brian Bixler. �Flowers tried to escape the run-down, but Bixler tagged him out, then threw to Walker who had moved to cover second base. �Gartrell advanced to second on the throw, and narrowly missed being tagged out by Walker. �Knights up, 2-1. �

The Indians tied the score again in the 3rd inning. �Brian Bixler extended his hitting streak to 8 games with a liner up the middle. �With two outs, Brian Myrow lifted a high fly ball down the left field line, to the corner of the Indians' bullpen. �Knights' LF Michael Restovich gave chase, and it looked like the inning was over -- until Restovich dropped the ball. �Since there were two outs, Bixler took off running on contact, and he just kept going. �By the time Restovich recovered the ball and got it back to the infield, Bixler had scored easily, tying the game at 2-2. �

Phil Dumatrait had to work in this rehab start. �His only easy inning was the first, when he retired the side in order, on 12 pitches. �After giving up 2 runs in the 2nd, he came out in the 3rd inning and quickly got two ground outs. �Then he gave up a double off the right field wall to 1B Josh Kroeger and walked Michael Restovich on 4 pitches. �The inning ended with a great play by SS Argenis Diaz and 2B Brian Bixler. �Diaz ranged to his left to make the scoop of the grounder well behind the second base bag. �As his momentum carried him over toward the second baseman's position, he made the flip to Bixler, who was moving in the opposite direction to cover the base, forcing out Michael Restovich by a mile (photo).

Dumatrait (photo) struggled in the next two innings. �The Knights led off the 4th with singles by Wilson Betemit and Tyler Flowers. �Flowers' single bounced in front of RF Jose Tabata, who fumbled the ball for a fielding error. �Flowers remained on first base, but Betemit came around to score from second base on the error. �CF Miguel Negron also singled, moving Betemit up to second base. �Once again, strong defensive work got Dumatrait out of the inning. �2B Eider Torres hit a fly ball into short left field, and Betemit, like most in the stadium thought the ball was going to drop in for the hit. �LF Brian Myrow didn't agree, though, and he raced in to make the shoestring catch, then fired the ball to Brian Bixler covering second base, and Betemit was doubled off the base to end the inning. �

Dumatrait opened the 5th inning by walking former Pirate farmhand SS Brent Lillibridge. �Lillibridge stole second base. �He tagged up and advanced to third base on a less-than-graceful play in right-center field. �Both CF Chris Barnwell and RF Jose Tabata chased after Michael Restovich's fly ball, and both got there at the same time, but without one calling the other off. �

Barnwell made the catch, but got tangled up in Tabata's legs and fell. �He made the throw back to the infield to keep Lillibridge from going any further than third base on the play, but Barnwell was slow to get up and was visibly limping and favoring his right leg. �Manager Frank Kremblas and trai ner Jose Ministral trotted out to c enter field to check on Barnwell, who insisted that he was ok, despite a lingering limp. �The next batter, 3B Josh Fields blooped a single into center field (Barnwell could not have reached it even without a limp), scoring Lillibridge from third base. �A grounder to short ended the inning, with the Knights sitting on a 4-2 lead. �

[Photo above: �Brian Bixler, Larry Broadway, Tagg Bozied, and Virgil Vasquez watch from the dugout.]

That was all for Dumatrait, who had been told he would have about 90 pitches to work with, gave up 4 runs (all earned) on 7 hits and 3 walks. �He did not strike out any batters. �His actual pitch count was 94, with 51 of those strikes. �

Ty Taubenheim (photo) relieved Dumatrait to begin the 6th inning. �Taubenheim retired the Knights in order in the 6th and 7th innings, and then retired the first batter he faced in the 8th. �Josh Fields reached base when he dribbled a little swinging bunt in front of the mound. �Taubenheim pounced on the ball, but threw off-balance and rushed, and the ball skipped away from Jeff Clement, going low and to the outside of the first base bag. �Fields reached second base on the error, but got no further. �Taubenheim got Wilson Betemit to fly out. �Jeremy Powell came in at that point, and he took 3 pitches to get Tyler Flowers to ground out to end the inning. �

The Indians went into the bottom of the 5th inning down 4-2. �Knights' starter Lucas Harrell had kept the Indians scoreless in the 4th inning, and did the same in the 5th. �The Tribe put two runners on base in that inning, on singles by Argenis Diaz and Jose Tabata, but couldn't get them around to score. �

The Indians got to Harrell again in the 6th. �Jeff Clement led off with a single that slipped right past the Knights' first baseman and into right field. �Tagg Bozied worked a walk, bringing up Neil Walker. �Walker, batting from the left side, lifted a long fly ball down the left field line, and for a moment, it looked like it might be heading over the fence. �Instead, it fell in just in front of the left field wall, just inside the foul line and into the corner. � It was a 2- RBI double for Walker, with both Clement and Bozied scoring. �Walker tagged up and went to third base on a fly out, but he was left standing on third base (photo) when two grounders ended the inning. �

The Knights brought in Derek Rodriguez from the bullpen for the 7th inning. �Rodriguez got two outs, then walked Brian Myrow. �That was all it took to set up Jeff Clement. �He took the first pitch from Rodriguez and sent it over the right field wall for a 2-run homer, to give the Indians the go-ahead run and an insurance run. �

After Taubenheim and Powell took care of the Knights in the top of the 8th, the Indians went down in order, on three grounders to 2B Eider Torres, in the bottom of the frame. �Chris Bootcheck came on to wrap things up for the Tribe in the top of the 9th. �He earned his 20th save with a 1-2-3 inning, including two strikeouts. �Ty Taubenheim was the pitcher of record when Clement blasted his homer, and he was credited with his 5th win of the season. �

Indians' Hitting Gem of the Game: �Jeff Clement's (photo) big blast in the 7th inning, to break the tie. �In the interview after the game, Clement said that he was helped by being able to watch Brian Myrow take a lot of pitches (5 in that at-bat). �"I went up there looking for a fast ball over the plate. �He (Derek Rodriguez) put it there, and I was able to get a good swing on it."

Indians' Defensive Gems of the Game: �#1 -- Brian Myrow and Brian Bixler combining for a double play to end the 4th inning. �Myrow made the running catch of Eider Torres' fly ball in left field, and threw to Bixler to double Miguel Negron off second base. �#2 -- Argenis Diaz's flip to Brian Bixler of Josh Fields' grounder to end the 3rd inning. �

More photos:

Phil Dumatrait

Jose Tabata in right field...................... Jeff Clement at first base

Jose Tabata at the plate..................Neil Walker makes the catch on an infield pop fly

Neil Walker and Brian Bixler � ............................ � Argenis Diaz

NOTES:

Did you like the Pirates' jerseys the Indians wore on July 25th? �(Cleverly modeled by Neil Walker, showing the Pirate on the front, and the red and yellow on the sides.)

The game-worn jerseys are being auctioned off here, and you can bid on them for the next week.

Chris Barnwell's 8-game hitting streak ended when he went 0-for-4.

Brian Bixler extended his hitting streak to 8 games. �

Chris Bootcheck has a streak of 16 converted saves.

Go Tribe!

[Photos by Nancy Zinni -- MVN]

The Indianapolis Indians have a scheduled day off -- their last day off until the season is over, which is in just under 5 weeks.

Early action today: