May 22, 2006 3 min read

CLEVELAND (AP) – Grady Sizemore singled home the winning run with two outs in the 10th inning to give Bob Wickman his first win in nearly four years, leading the Cleveland Indians over the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 Sunday. The Indians won for the fifth time in six games and improved to 17-4 in interleague play the past two years.

Aaron Boone, back in the lineup after missing Saturday’s game with a sore back, lined a two-out single off Mike Gonzalez (1-2) and hustled to third on a double to left by Ronnie Belliard.

Sizemore, who was 0-for-5 with four strikeouts, then hit a 3-2 pitch over the head of right fielder Jeromy Burnitz to win it.

Wickman (1-0) earned his first win since he threw a scoreless inning for Cleveland against Texas on Aug. 10, 2002. He also worked two innings for the first time since July 7, 2001, also in an interleague game against St. Louis. The right-hander missed all of 2003 and the first half of 2004 recovering from reconstructive elbow surgery. He went a combined 0-6 with 58 saves the past two seasons.

The Pirates put two runners on in the ninth against Wickman, who then got pinch-hitter Jose Hernandez to bunt into a fielder’s choice out at third and Jose Castillo to bounce into a double play.

Cleveland also put two on in the ninth, but Roberto Hernandez retired Victor Martinez to end that threat.

Pittsburgh’s Nate McLouth had three hits, scored two runs and made a spectacular diving catch in center field to rob Boone of a hit with a runner on second in the eighth, keeping the game tied at 2.

Jason Michaels had two hits and scored twice for Cleveland.

Michaels reached on a one-out double in the first when his flyball fell between three Pirates in short right-center. He later scored on a two-out double by Martinez.

Pittsburgh took a 2-1 lead in the sixth with McLouth sparking the rally. McLouth reached on an infield hit, stole second, went to third on a flyball and scored on Freddy Sanchez’s double to right. With two outs, Burnitz’s broken-bat single up the middle scored Sanchez.

Cleveland loaded the bases with one out against Pirates starter Paul Maholm in the bottom half, but Matt Capps came on and got Boone to hit into a first-pitch double play.

The Indians tied it at 2 in the seventh. Michaels singled with one out and scored on Jhonny Peralta’s double off the wall in right.

Maholm struck out seven over 5 1-3 innings. The left-hander allowed one run and four hits – all doubles – walked three and hit two batters with pitches.

The Pirates fell to 4-19 on the road and have won just two of their last 15 games played in American League ballparks.

Indians right-hander Paul Byrd struck out four without a walk over the first seven innings. He gave up two runs and six hits.

NOTES: OF Jose Bautista was placed on the Pirates’ bereavement list and returned to the Dominican Republic for the funeral of his grandmother. INF Yurendell DeCaster was called up from Triple-A Indianapolis and made his big league debut as a pinch-runner in the ninth. … Byrd threw 73 of 94 pitches for strikes. … Sanchez has 12 RBIs during a 12-game hitting streak. … The three-game series drew a total of 94,887 fans.