CLEVELAND (AP) -Trot Nixon’s getting a few more swings to haunt his former teammates.
Nixon, who drove in the go-ahead run with a pinch-hit RBI single in the 11th inning of Cleveland’s Game 2 win at Fenway Park, was in the starting lineup Monday night against the Boston Red Sox in the AL championship series.
Nixon, a popular member of Boston’s 2004 World Series title team, started in right field in place of Franklin Gutierrez, who was 0-for-9 in the series before hitting a three-run homer in the 11th when the Indians broke open a 6-6 tie with seven runs.
Indians manager Eric Wedge decided to make the switch with his club facing right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka, who throws an array of breaking pitches.
“It’s good to get another left-hander in against this guy,” Wedge said. “It’s also good to give Gutierrez a night off. He finished on a positive note the other night after they had been feeding him a steady dose of breaking balls, and this guy (Matsuzaka) can do that better than anybody.”
Nixon spent 13 seasons in Boston’s organization before signing as a free agent with Cleveland in January.
In Game 2, Nixon, a left-handed hitter, dropped his single into center field off lefty Javier Lopez. Wedge was playing a hunch in sending up Nixon, who entered the game with just six hits in 131 postseason at-bats against lefties.
“It was his turn to hit,” Wedge said.
Nixon also started Game 3 in the division series against New York and homered in his first at-bat against Yankees starter Roger Clemens, another former teammate.
The 33-year-old Nixon struggled with injuries early this season and he was eventually replaced as the everyday right fielder by Gutierrez. But Nixon’s leadership has had a huge impact on a young Indians team with minimal postseason experience.
“He still comes to the ballpark ready to play and he still gives us all the intangibles and the leadership that this team needs and what you’ve come to expect from him,” Wedge said. “You do see a little more life in him. He wants to play every day, I know that.”
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