Indians cruise after big inning

CLEVELAND -- Good thing the Cleveland Browns have an open date this week. That will give the Indians plenty of time to return the playbooks they stole from their football-playing neighbors on Lake Erie.

For the second time in this American League Championship Series, the Indians tallied a touchdown and an extra point in one frame, riding a seven-run fifth inning to a 7-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox in Game 4 on Tuesday night at Jacobs Field.

Crafty veteran Paul Byrd threw five scoreless innings before being nicked for two home runs in the sixth, and shortstop Jhonny Peralta’s three-run home run highlighted the fifth, as Cleveland took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series and moved to within one win of its first World Series appearance since 1997.

The league’s leading Cy Young Award candidates will square off in Game 5 on Thursday, with right-hander Josh Beckett fighting to keep Boston’s season alive and left-hander C.C. Sabathia trying to prevent a return to Fenway Park.

“We have a chance to close out the series at home, and you have to feel pretty confident, pretty excited about that,” reliever Jensen Lewis said. “We have a chance to go to the World Series, which a lot of guys here haven’t been to. It would be a dream come true.”

The Red Sox must rekindle their dream season of 2004, when they became the first team in baseball to erase a 3-0 deficit to win a seven-game series, stunning the New York Yankees in the ALCS en route to their World Series championship.

“There are some guys in there who have been in this situation before, and the best way I think to go about our business is to play the next game,” Boston Manager Terry Francona said. “You start looking ahead, it can look a little overwhelming.”

Kind of like that Cleveland outburst in the fifth, a 35-minute half-inning in which the Indians sent 12 men to the plate and had seven hits to match the seven-spot they posted in the 11th inning of their 13-6 win in Game 2.

“It’s a credit to our offense, which I think is a little bit overshadowed,” Byrd said. “We kind of sneak up on some people, and you forget how potent this offense can be. Anybody in the lineup is a threat to hit a home run. It makes for some exciting comebacks, and you never feel like you’re out of it.”

Knuckleball-throwing Tim Wakefield could have escaped the fifth with only one run had he not gotten a little overzealous trying to snag a potential double-play ball.

Casey Blake hit an 0-and-1 knuckleball over the left-field wall to lead off the fifth, ending a scoreless tie, Franklin Gutierrez singled and Kelly Shoppach was hit by a pitch.

Grady Sizemore grounded into a fielder’s choice, putting runners on first and third with one out, and Asdrubal Cabrera hit a liner to Wakefield’s left, which appeared headed to second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who was shaded toward the bag.

But Wakefield got a piece of his glove on the ball, which trickled behind the mound for a hit that drove in Gutierrez.

“It’s one of those things where if I catch the ball, it’s a double play, and if I let it go, it’s a double play,” Wakefield said. “Unfortunately, it hit my glove.”

Travis Hafner then struck out, but Victor Martinez hit a run-scoring single to make it 3-0, and Peralta, who hit a big three-run homer against Curt Schilling in Game 2, greeted reliever Manny Delcarmen with a three-run homer to right for a 6-0 lead. Kenny Lofton singled, stole second and scored on Blake’s single to make it 7-0.

The Red Sox rallied in the sixth when Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz each homered, knocking Byrd out. Manny Ramirez crushed a 451-foot homer to center against Lewis, thrusting both arms into the air and taking seven steps out of the box before starting his trot, as if he had hit a game winner.

It marked the second time in postseason history that a team hit three home runs in a row and ended a stretch in which Boston had scored in only one of 20 ALCS innings.

But Lewis closed out the sixth and pitched a scoreless seventh, and Rafael Betancourt retired six straight batters, leaving the Indians so pleased they weren’t offended by Ramirez’s antics.

“That’s Manny being Manny,” Lewis said. “The biggest thing is we’re up 3-1. That’s all that matters.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com