Hot Indians Finish Sweep of Orioles

The only numbers Travis Hafner is concerned with are the ones in Cleveland’s win column.

Hafner drove in four runs to help C.C. Sabathia win his fourth straight start, and the Indians completed a three-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles with a 5-1 victory Sunday at Cleveland.

The Indians, who are a half a game behind Oakland in the AL wild-card race, won their fourth straight and fifth in six games to move a season-high 12 games over .500.

“All we want to do is win,” Hafner said after getting three hits. “If we win, we make up ground in the wild card and the division. All I care about is getting to the playoffs any way possible.”

Cleveland has trimmed 6 1/2 games off a 15-game deficit to AL Central leader Chicago since July 25.

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Chicago 6, New York 2 -- Randy Johnson gave up home runs to three straight batters for the first time in his major league career and four in all during the fourth inning, and the host White Sox ended a seven-game losing streak.

Given a 1-0 lead, Johnson gave up solo homers to Tadahito Iguchi, Aaron Rowand and Paul Konerko with one out in the fourth, gave up consecutive singles to Jermaine Dye and Juan Uribe, then allowed a three-run homer to Chris Widger. The four homers were in a 16-pitch span.

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Minnesota 8, Seattle 3 -- Lew Ford homered for the third straight game, hitting a three-run drive and helping the Twins win at Minneapolis.

Matthew LeCroy drove in two runs with two hits, Joe Mauer reached base five times and Shannon Stewart had three hits for Minnesota, which won for the ninth time in 11 games.

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Tampa Bay 6, Texas 3 -- Kenny Rogers lost his third straight start since serving a 13-game suspension and Jonny Gomes homered and drove in two runs at St. Petersburg, Fla., as the Devil Rays completed a three-game sweep of the Rangers. Texas completed a season-high 13-game trip with one win.

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Detroit 17, Toronto 6 -- Carlos Pena hit a three-run homer in a seven-run first inning that started the host Tigers to their highest-scoring game in more than a year, and Detroit extended its winning streak to four. It was the most runs for the Tigers since a 17-3 win over Cleveland on April 23, 2004.