Indians Wild About Victory Over Mariners

It might be too late for Cleveland Indians to win the American League Central division this season, but that doesn’t mean the Indians will not contend for a World Series berth.

The Indians moved into the lead for the American League wild-card spot Sunday with a 10-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners at Seattle.

The Indians (61-53) are percentage points ahead of Oakland (62-54), which lost to Detroit Sunday.

Travis Fryman hit a home run and a double and drove in four runs to lead the Indians over the Mariners, who committed four errors in a game for the first time since June 8, 1998. They began the day with a .986 fielding percentage, second only to Cleveland (.987) in the American League.

Fryman hit a two-out, two-run drive in the seventh inning against Jose Mesa for his 16th home run. It was the Indians’ first homer since last Sunday, ending their season-high 53-inning drought.

Detroit 5, Oakland 3--Juan Encarnacion returned to the Tiger lineup and hit a three-run homer at Oakland, handing the A’s their seventh loss in eight games.

Brian Moehler (9-7) gave up three runs and seven hits in seven innings to earn his third consecutive victory. Todd Jones came in with the bases loaded and two out in the eighth and went on to earn his league-leading 33rd save.

With one out in the fifth, Brad Ausmus singled against former USC standout Barry Zito (1-1) and Damion Easley walked. Encarnacion, rested by Manager Phil Garner for the previous three games, stepped up with two out and hit his 11th homer.

Tampa Bay 5, Chicago 3--John Flaherty hit a three-run homer with one out in the bottom of the ninth to give the Devil Rays the victory at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Albie Lopez (10-8) gave up three runs and five hits in his fourth complete game, his second in a row.

With one out in the ninth, Kelly Wunsch walked Jose Guillen. After pinch-runner Jason Tyner stole second, Bob Howry (2-3) walked pinch-hitter Miguel Cairo.

Flaherty, who also had an RBI single in the seventh, worked the count full before fouling off six pitches. He then hit his seventh homer for the game-winner.

Frank Thomas, who started the day tied for the AL home run lead, put the White Sox ahead, 2-0, with a fourth-inning solo homer.

Boston 4, Texas 2--Nomar Garciaparra and Jason Varitek hit two-run singles in the third inning to lead the Red Sox at Arlington, Texas.

Gabe Kapler extended the major leagues’ longest hitting streak this season to 26 games with a sixth-inning single, but the Rangers had only five hits. The Rangers have been held to seven hits or less in four consecutive games.

Tomo Ohka (1-2) pitched 5 2/3 innings, his longest stint in 12 major league appearances the past two seasons for Boston.

Derek Lowe pitched the ninth for his 26th save in 31 opportunities.

Toronto 13, Minnesota 3--Alex Gonzalez homered and drove in a career-high five runs, and Tony Batista had four of Toronto’s season-high 20 hits at Minneapolis.

Carlos Delgado hit his 34th homer and Brad Fullmer also hit a home run as the Blue Jays raised their league-leading total to 193.

Chris Carpenter (9-10) pitched 5 1/3 innings of emergency relief after starter Frank Castillo left because of tightness in his forearm in the second.

Kansas City 10, Baltimore 5--Mike Sweeney homered at Kansas City to reach 100 RBIs earlier than any player in Royal history.

Sweeney had driven in a run early in the game, then hit his 19th homer in the eighth, giving him 100 RBIs for the second consecutive season.

Sweeney reached the mark earlier than Hal McRae, who drove in his 100th run on Aug. 16, 1982.