Benches empty after Lofton, Beckett exchange words

osh Beckett stayed cool when his ex-girlfriend showed up to sing the national anthem.

Didn't bother him one bit when country singer Danielle Peck performed Thursday night.

"I don't make those (expletive) decisions," Beckett said after pitching Boston past the Cleveland Indians 7-1. "Thanks for flying one of my friends to the game so she could watch it for free."

Kenny Lofton, well, that was a different story.

Beckett took exception to Lofton's antics at the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning of Game 5 of the AL championship series, screaming at him and prompting both benches and bullpens to clear. No punches were thrown and nobody was ejected, and both teams left the field after a few minutes of milling about.

Beckett stayed sharp after the brief skirmish, limiting the Indians to one run over eight innings. He struck out 11, walked one and allowed five hits.

"There was just a little verbiage back and forth. Nothing happened," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. "Both teams ran out, looked at each other, ran back."

Pitching to keep the Red Sox alive, Beckett was thrown a curveball before the game even started. The Indians brought Peck, an Ohio native, in to sing the national anthem and "God Bless America."

"An incredible coincidence," Indians vice president Bob DiBiasio said. "Honestly."

Peck was simply filling in for Taylor Swift, another country star who was originally scheduled to handle the singing duties.

"(Peck's) record company called and said she's got Ohio ties and we said, 'Perfect,"' DiBiasio said.

And it didn't bother him, Beckett said. Honest.

"She's a friend of mine," he said.

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C.C. Sabathia bested by Josh Beckett, ALCS goes back to Boston

C.C. Sabathia was the second-best ace on the mound. Again.

Outpitched by Boston's Josh Beckett for the second time in the AL championship series, Sabathia can only hope for a chance to redeem himself in the World Series.

Sabathia had an opportunity to help Cleveland clinch the pennant at home, but let it slip away as the Indians lost to the Red Sox 7-1 Thursday night. The Tribe will return to unfriendly Fenway Park for Game 6 on Saturday night ahead 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.

"I can live with this better than I could my last start," Sabathia said. "I thought I made some good pitches. They have a tough lineup, but I felt like I was more aggressive than I was the last time and I went after them better than I did the last time."

Sabathia struggled to find the groove that made him a Cy Young Award candidate, giving up four runs and 10 hits in six-plus innings. He walked two, hit two batters and threw a wild pitch.

"He didn't bring his best stuff and he was able to battle and give us six strong innings," catcher Victor Martinez said.

But as Cleveland's No. 1 starter, Sabathia was expected to dominate.

The left-hander looked shaky from the start, giving up a home run to No. 2 hitter Kevin Youkilis in the first. The inning would have been worse had Franklin Gutierrez not thrown out Manny Ramirez at home to end it.

Ramirez's single off the top of the center-field wall in the third made it 2-1 and was all the Red Sox needed with Beckett on the mound.

Sabathia put runners on in every inning except the sixth.

Indians manager Eric Wedge decided to stick with Sabathia - who was over 100 pitches - in the seventh, one of the few questionable moves he's made this postseason.

Wedge said he didn't want to go to setup man Rafael Betancourt for two innings after Sabathia had his best inning. Sabathia said he was feeling fine.

"He's thrown 120 pitches before," Wedge said. "It just didn't work out."

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