Indians Ride the Comeback Kid

Jake Westbrook took an unconventional route to his career-high 15th victory, just like the one the Cleveland Indians may follow to the AL playoffs.

In April, Westbrook went 0-5, losing two complete games. By the middle of June, things weren’t much better as the Cleveland right-hander was 2-9.

It was no different for the Indians, who were 9-14 after the first month and were going nowhere.

“I guess it’s kind of a not-give-up attitude,” Westbrook said. “We’ve bounced back.”

Westbrook (15-14) pushed his record over .500 for the first time this season on Wednesday night as Ronnie Belliard’s three-run homer sent the wild card-leading Indians to a 6-4 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

Belliard’s shot in the seventh on Barry Zito’s 122nd and final pitch allowed Cleveland to remain one game up on the New York Yankees for the wild card, and the Indians extended their lead over the A’s to 3 1/2 games.

With Chicago’s loss at Kansas City, the Indians also moved within five games of first in the AL Central, the closest they’ve been in the division since April 21.

“We can’t worry about that until the end,” Westbrook said.

Belliard fell behind 0-2 in the count before pulling a pitch from Zito (13-12) over the wall in left. The Indians went on to their ninth win in 10 games and are a major league-best 30-11 since July 31.

Nick Swisher hit a three-run homer for the A’s, who with a win would have moved into a tie with the Angels atop the AL West.

Westbrook didn’t give up a hit until the sixth and gave up only two in seven innings.

The right-hander, who opened the season 1-7, is 9-2 in 11 starts since July 21 and already has one more win than he had in 2004, when he made the All-Star team.

“I’m pretty proud of that,” Westbrook said. “To have a 2-9 record and come back and be 15-14. You can’t ever hang your head.”

Bob Wickman gave up a one-out homer to Mark Kotsay and walked Scott Hatteberg with two out in the ninth before striking out Dan Johnson for his league-leading 41st save.