Sox choke away game in Cleveland

Up 5-0 and with Jon Lester on the mound, the Red Sox were in perfect position to take three out of four in Cleveland.

For some reason, Lester didn't have it (6 innings, 6 earned runs, 9 hits, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts) and the Indians (23-36) won 8-7 on a walk-off two-run single by Russell Branyan.

Boston (35-27) had gone up 7-6 in the top of the ninth when Adrian Beltre (2 hits) crushed a two-run homer off Indians closer Kerry Wood. Yes, he's still alive, barely. J.D. Drew was hit by a pitch and he scored on the bomb to left center, Beltre's eighth homer of the season.

The Sox scored four runs in the first, on a Dustin Pedroia (2 hits) RBI single, Victor Martinez's sacrifice fly and two runs scored on a Andy Marte error. The former Sox prospect had three errors in the inning, tying a MLB record.

Martinez's RBI double in the second, which scored Marco Scutaro (2 hits, 2 runs), made it 5-0 and it looked like it would be a happy late-night flight back home for the Red Sox.

The Indians scored three in the third on Trevor Crowe's RBI double, Shin-Soo Choo's (2 hits) sacrifice fly and Austin Kearns' RBI single.

Cleveland went ahead for the first time with three more runs in the sixth on Marte's RBI single and a two-run single by Lou Marson.

With Jonathan Papelbon unavailable for one more day (on the bereavement list), closer in waiting Daniel Bard proved that he's not quite ready for primetime. He loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth before striking out one and getting a popout before Branyan came through with the bloop single to right just over Pedroia's glove.

Interleague play starts back up this weekend with the Philadelphia Phillies invading Fenway Park for three games. The Sox won two of three at Citizen's Bank Park a few weeks back.

Jamie Moyer, a former Sox pitcher, takes on John Lackey tonight.