BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Indians Officially End Four Decades of Misery

The Cleveland Indians, symbols of baseball futility for four decades, clinched at least a tie for the American League Central title Thursday night, beating the Seattle Mariners, 4-1, at Cleveland.

The Indians need one more victory, or one more Kansas City loss, to guarantee their first title since 1954. They have clinched a wild-card berth, ensuring their first postseason appearance since they were swept by the New York Giants in the 1954 World Series. Their 85 victories are their most in any season since 1968, when they won 86.

Charles Nagy (13-5) won his third consecutive start, and Carlos Baerga homered for the Indians, winners of 11 consecutive home games and 13 of their last 15 overall. Chris Bosio (9-8) was the loser.

Seattle dropped six games behind the Angels in the AL West and one game behind Kansas City in the wild-card race. The Mariners and Royals meet in a three-game series beginning tonight in Seattle.

Texas 2, Chicago 0--Roger Pavlik threw a three-hitter at Arlington, Tex., for the first shutout of his career as the Rangers halted the White Sox’s eight-game winning streak.

Texas ended a four-game losing streak and moved within two games of idle Kansas City in the AL wild-card race.

Pavlik (8-9) had lost three of his previous four decisions, but he was in command against a hot-hitting White Sox lineup that was batting .342 with a .558 slugging percentage over the eight-game streak, Chicago’s longest since 1991. The complete game was Pavlik’s first of the season and fourth of his career.

Pavlik struck out five and walked four in outdueling Wilson Alvarez (7-8), 0-7 on the road this season.

Atlanta 6-1, Florida 3-5--Pat Rapp pitched 6 1/3 no-hit innings and Gary Sheffield and Jeff Conine hit home runs at Miami to lead the Marlins to a victory over the Braves and salvage a split of a shortened doubleheader. Fred McGriff broke up Rapp’s no-hitter in the seventh with a towering home run to center field, his 24th.

In the opener the Braves took 21 minutes to beat the Marlins in the completion of a suspended game delayed over four months.

Rapp, (10-7) gave up one run and four hits with five strikeouts and two walks to win his fifth consecutive decision. Steve Avery (6-12), who gave up six hits and struck out seven in seven innings, lost his third in a row.

Brad Woodall (1-0) earned his first major league victory in the first game. Robb Nen (0-5), who gave up all six runs, was the loser.

St. Louis 5, San Diego 2--Ray Lankford drove in four runs with a double, triple and sacrifice fly at St. Louis and Allen Watson pitched six shutout innings as the Cardinals ended a five-game losing streak.

Lankford, who matched a career-high for RBIs in a game, also stretched a hitting streak to nine games.

Watson (6-7) gave up four hits, struck out two, walked two and hit a batter in 6 1/3 innings. He lost his shutout and was lifted after Marc Newfield and Eddie Williams hit consecutive doubles with one out in the seventh. Padre starter Glenn Dishman (4-7) continued a pitching slump, giving up four runs in five innings.