They didn't do it in spring training and they certainly haven't done it in the first 22 games of the regular season. What they've done is gone up and down, back and forth and over and out in a maddening dance of indecision.

It happened again Wednesday night when a small piece of the Indians' past returned and hit them hard over the head. Jonathan Van Every, a discarded 2000 draft pick, hit his first big-league homer in the 10th inning to give Boston a 6-5 victory at Progressive Field.

Van Every homered off former minor-league teammate and roommate, Jensen Lewis, as the Red Sox rallied from a 5-0 deficit. Lewis and Van Every had a good read on each other.

Said Lewis, who retired the first two batters in the 10th, "I played with him from Class AA on up. He's a speed-him-up, slow-him-down guy."

Lewis started Van Every with a change-up for a strike. He missed with a fastball and came back with another change-up.

Van Every was waiting.

"I figured he'd throw a change-up in that sequence," said Van Every, a surprise starter in right field because J.D. Drew had a sore quadriceps muscle. "I knew I caught it pretty good. My only question was, 'Would Grady [Sizemore] catch it?' "

Lewis (2-3), who has allowed five homers in 12 1/3 innings this inning, was trying to save a tired bullpen that had pitched seven innings in Tuesday's 9-8 victory over Boston. He entered in the eighth with the bases loaded, one out and a 5-3 lead. Drew, pinch-hitting, made it 5-4 on a force out at second. Jacoby Ellsbury, down in the count 0-2, followed with a single to tie it.

"How about that," said Lewis. "Two guys I used to play with beat me."

Lewis played with Ellsbury in the Cape Cod League.

The eighth might not have turned out that way if Mark DeRosa hadn't made an error at third base. DeRosa had seven assists before Jeff Bailey sent a routine grounder to him with one out, Mike Lowell at second, Jason Varitek at first and Rafael Betancourt on the mound.

"I put this loss on me," said DeRosa. "Raffie [Betancourt] comes in and gets a double-play ball. It's got to be turned.

"Even if it's not, it's first and third and two outs. You've got to get an out there."

Van Every, who reached Class AAA Buffalo with the Indians in 2007, followed the error with a single to make it 5-3.

The Indians loaded the bases in the eighth and put two men on in the ninth, but couldn't score. Grady Sizemore flied out with the bases loaded in the eighth, Jhonny Peralta took a called third strike with two on in the ninth and Sizemore ended the game with a strikeout against Jonathan Papelbon in the 10th with Ben Francisco, representing the tying run, on second base.

They stranded 11 runners and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

"I came up with some big opportunities late and wasn't able to come through," said Sizemore. "It's tough when you get those chances to win and don't come through. I felt good. I didn't feel like I was giving at-bats away. I just got beat."

Sizemore cost the Indians a run in the first when he got picked off after reaching on Jon Lester's error to start the game. After Sizemore was picked off, Asdrubal Cabrera singled and scored on Victor Martinez's triple off the center-field wall. Shin-Soo Choo's sacrifice fly made it 2-0.

"He showed me a different move on every pitch," said Sizemore. "I was trying to be aggressive and got caught."

Martinez's triple was the second of his career and the first by the Indians this season.

Homers by DeRosa in the second and Kelly Shoppach in the fourth gave the Tribe and Fausto Carmona a 5-0 lead. Carmona, who threw 45 pitches in the first two innings, settled down to reach the seventh inning. He allowed two runs on five hits in 6 2/3 innings.

"We needed a good effort by Fausto because everyone knew we were light in the bullpen," said manager Eric Wedge. "Fausto gave us that."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: phoynes@plaind.com, 216-999-5158