Indians Win to Gain Edge

David Justice homered and tied a career-high with five runs batted in Saturday night as the Cleveland Indians clinched home-field advantage in the first round of the American League playoffs with a 9-5 victory over the Minnesota Twins at Minneapolis.

The AL Central champions ended a five-game losing streak and will open the postseason Tuesday night at home against the Boston Red Sox, the AL wild-card team.

If the Indians had lost, the Texas Rangers could have overtaken them for the home-field edge with a victory today combined with an Indian loss to the Twins in today’s regular-season finale. If that had happened, the Indians would have started the playoffs at New York on Tuesday night against the Yankees.

Justice hit his 21st homer in the first, added a two-run double in the second and hit a sacrifice fly in the three-run eighth. Manny Ramirez added a two-run double, giving him 145 RBIs.

Seattle 5, Texas 2--The Rangers, who clinched the AL West on Friday, stumbled at Seattle as the Mariners’ Edgar Martinez went four for four with his 29th home run and two doubles.

Ken Griffey Jr., who leads the AL with 56 home runs, played all three outfield positions for the first time in his career. He moved to first base in the ninth inning, the second time he has played the position.

Chicago 13, Kansas City 5--Frank Thomas and Albert Belle hit consecutive home runs in the fifth inning and rookie Brian Simmons hit his first two major league homers to lead the White Sox at Kansas City.

The four home runs established a single-season mark of 196 for the White Sox, eclipsing the team record of 195 set in 1996.

Belle’s homer was his 48th.

The White Sox’s power show made a winner of Jim Abbott (5-0), who got off to a rocky start but settled down to keep his perfect record intact.

Baltimore 5, Boston 2--Bret Saberhagen gave up homers to B.J. Surhoff and Eric Davis in his postseason tuneup for the Red Sox at Boston.

The Orioles ended a six-game losing streak while stopping the Red Sox’s four-game winning streak.