Twins Complete Sweep of Indians as Blyleven, 36, Beats Niekro, 48

Dan Gladden, Kent Hrbek and Roy Smalley each hit home runs Thursday to help Bert Blyleven and the Minnesota Twins defeat Phil Niekro and the Cleveland Indians, 4-3.

The victory enabled the Twins to complete a three-game sweep of the Indians and stretch their winning streak to four games.

The 36-year-old Blyleven (6-6) allowed 8 hits and 5 walks in 6 innings, improving his career record to 235-203 and increasing Minnesota’s lead in the American League West to 4 1/2 games over the second-place Oakland A’s.

George Frazier pitched one inning of hitless relief, and Jeff Reardon finished with two shutout innings for his 15th save as the Twins won for the 15th time in their last 18 games. Reardon struck out four.

The 48-year-old Niekro (5-7) saw his record drop to 316-267 after allowing eight hits, including the three homers.

“I thought I only threw a couple of bad pitches,” he said. “The one to Smalley was a 2-0 pitch and I just threw it down the middle. Hrbek hit a knuckleball that didn’t do anything.”