Indians Gain More Ground

They’re in the unfamiliar position of looking up instead of down in the American League Central. And second place is not where the Cleveland Indians want to finish.

“We still got a lot of ground to make up and, hopefully, we can do that,” Jim Thome said Wednesday night after his two homers powered an 8-6 victory over the White Sox at Chicago.

Certainly the Indians are feeling more confident after winning two in a row from the White Sox, who swept a three-game series at Jacobs Field last week, won four in a row at Yankee Stadium and then won Monday’s opener for an eight-game winning streak.

Chicago still holds a 6 1/2-game lead over Cleveland.

“I don’t worry about making up ground. We can win 20 in a row,” said Kenny Lofton, who tripled, double and singled. “We’ve got three months to go and you don’t worry about things this early.”

White Sox ace James Baldwin (10-2), whose other loss was May 26 to the Yankees, was pounded for six runs and eight hits in four-plus innings, his shortest outing of the season.

Thome reached 20 homers for a seventh consecutive season. Alex Ramirez also homered for Cleveland, while Frank Thomas homered twice for Chicago and Paul Konerko once. Konerko was four for five.

The White Sox had several chances in the final four innings to tie, stranding seven base runners from the sixth inning on.

Oakland 10, Baltimore 3--Eric Chavez hit for the cycle, the first in Oakland Coliseum history, and the A’s defeated Mike Mussina to complete a three-game sweep.

Ariel Prieto (1-1), called up from the minors earlier in the day, pitched five strong innings to earn his first win in the majors since June 26, 1997, in Texas.

Prieto, who made his major league debut with the A’s in 1995, spent most of the last two seasons on the disabled list after having “Tommy John” surgery on his right elbow.

Terrence Long had three hits and drove in three runs as the A’s extended their winning streak to a season-high eight games.

Chavez’s feat was the third in Oakland history--Tony Phillips did it on May 19, 1996 in Baltimore, and Mike Blowers did it in Chicago on May 18, 1998.

Chavez doubled in the second, singled in fourth and tripled in the fifth--all against Mussina (5-7). He then hit a 1-and-1 pitch from Jose Mercedes over the center-field fence for his 12th homer.

Seattle 8, Tampa Bay 5--John Olerud’s three-run double and Alex Rodriguez’s two-run double highlighted a seven-run second inning at Seattle.

Esteban Yan (4-5) pitched to seven batters in the second without getting an out.

Aaron Sele (8-3) improved his record against the Devil Rays to 5-0, including 3-0 this season. But he left the game after he walked Fred McGriff and gave up a double to Bobby Smith to start the sixth.

Kazuhiro Sasaki pitched the ninth for his 12th save in 14 opportunities.

The Mariners took their 7-0 lead in the second on second baseman Smith’s fielding error on a grounder by John Mabry, a bases-loaded walk to Mike Cameron, Rodriguez’s double over center-fielder Quinton McCracken’s head and Olerud’s bases-clearing double.

McGriff hit a two-run homer off Sele in the fourth, a 419-foot shot over the center-field fence.

Texas 7, Minnesota 5--Dave Martinez, hitless in 20 previous at bats, had a two-run double in the fifth for the Rangers at Arlington, Texas.

Esteban Loaiza (4-5) pitched six innings and won for the first time in five starts. John Wetteland gave up one run in the ninth before recording his 18th save in 22 opportunities.

Martinez’s double, on a hard-hit grounder that ricocheted off the foot of Minnesota shortstop Cristian Guzman into the outfield, broke a 3-3 tie and put the Rangers ahead for good.

Martinez was thrown out trying to stretch his hit into a triple, but only after Rafael Palmeiro and David Segui scored. Martinez’s slump began after he went five for nine after being acquired by Texas from the Chicago Cubs in a three-team trade June 9.

Twin reliever Bob Wells set an American League record for a pitcher with four fielding chances in the sixth inning. He made two errors and had assists on the only two outs he recorded.

Toronto 6, Detroit 0--Kelvim Escobar pitched a four-hitter at Toronto for his first shutout in 55 career starts.

Carlos Delgado hit his AL-leading 25th homer and Shannon Stewart hit a three-run homer to back Escobar (6-8), who pitched his third complete game of the season. He struck out six and walked three.

Detroit was shut out for the ninth time this season, the most in the major leagues.