Indians, Finley Take It to Yankees Again

With Manny Ramirez healthy and Yankee-killer Chuck Finley on their side, the Cleveland Indians could be a difficult October opponent for New York.

Cleveland handed New York its second lopsided loss in three days, as Finley allowed one hit in six scoreless innings and Ramirez homered and drove in three runs in a 15-4 rout Sunday.

“We have to get there before we can talk about playing the Yankees,” Indian Manager Charlie Manuel said. “We have our work cut out just to get there.”

The Indians have taken two of the first three games in the four-game series--outscoring their potential playoff foe 29-11--and hold a half-game lead over idle Oakland in the AL wild-card race.

Finley (13-11) signed a $27 million, three-year deal with Cleveland in the offseason in part because of his success against the Yankees. The left-hander, who improved to 17-9 against New York, was sharp, but didn’t need to be.

“There are certain teams I do well against and certain teams I don’t,” Finley said. “The team I do well against happens to be the world champions.”

By the time Ryan Thompson got New York’s first hit with one out in the fifth inning, the Indians already led 15-0. Finley left early as Manuel wanted to keep him available as an option to pitch in the second game of a doubleheader against Boston on Thursday--one of three doubleheaders in eight days for the Indians.

The entire Cleveland lineup got involved in the rout except for Jim Thome, who went 0 for 5 with three strikeouts. Every other starter either scored or drove in a run.

Roberto Alomar had three hits, three runs and two RBIs, Kenny Lofton walked and scored three times, David Segui drove in three runs and Travis Fryman hit a two-run homer.

Ramirez started the onslaught with a two-run homer in the first against Denny Neagle (7-5). Ramirez added an RBI double single in Cleveland’s five-run third--with Alomar scoring from first when right fielder Jose Canseco misplayed the carom off the wall for an error.

Detroit 5, Boston 4--Dave Mlicki (6-11) allowed one run and four hits in seven innings, and Dean Palmer hit a two-run homer at Detroit.

Jason Varitek hit an RBI single in the ninth off Todd Jones, who struck out Bernard Gilkey to end the game with the potential tying run on second. Jones got his team-record 39th save.

Seattle 3, Baltimore 2--Alex Rodriguez broke a 1-1 tie in the eighth with a two-run homer off Sidney Ponson (8-12), and the Mariners completed their first three-game sweep at Baltimore since Sept. 3-5, 1990.

Freddy Garcia won his fourth consecutive start (8-4), giving up one run and four hits in seven innings. Kazuhiro Sasaki got four outs for his 33rd save, giving up an RBI double to Mark Lewis in the ninth.

Toronto 14, Chicago 1--Carlos Delgado hit a grand slam at Chicago to end a 17-game homerless streak, reaching 40 homers for the second consecutive season.

Brad Fullmer hit a three-run homer, Jose Cruz Jr. hit a two-run shot and Tony Batista had a three-run double. Lance Painter (2-0) pitched three innings of two-hit relief.

Texas 6, Kansas City 5--Gabe Kapler was two for four and drove in three runs at Arlington, Texas, giving him 13 RBIs in the four-game series. Kapler hit a two-run homer in the first off Dan Reichert.