Indians Finally Start Off Right

The Cleveland Indians’ hottest pitcher helped them finally get off on the right foot.

Cliff Lee worked six strong innings to win his fourth game this month and keep his perfect interleague record intact, and Travis Hafner homered twice in a 10-3 victory over the Cardinals Monday night in St. Louis.

The win ended a string of 10 straight losses in series openers for the Indians, dating to May 23.

“I didn’t even realize that, to be honest with you,” Lee said. “I just wanted to go out there and pitch my game and go with the scouting report we had on the guys.”

The Cardinals have lost seven in a row for the first time since 2002.

Lee is 6-0 with a 3.27 earned-run average against the NL, including a victory over the Chicago Cubs in his last start. He’s 4-0 with a 3.09 ERA in five June starts, one of the lone bright spots for a team that’s 8-15 this month.

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Detroit 10, Houston 4 -- Ivan Rodriguez’s two-run double highlighted the Tigers’ five-run third inning at Detroit.

Rodriguez homered off Astros starter Wandy Rodriguez (8-5) in the seventh.

Houston had four consecutive hits in the first inning off Zach Miner (4-1), resulting in an early visit to the mound from Manager Jim Leyland. The right-hander regrouped and struck out five over 5 1/3 innings, giving up three runs and 10 hits.

Lance Berkman and Astros Manager Phil Garner were ejected in the seventh.

Berkman was called out at first base trying to beat out a grounder. He slammed his helmet to the ground and was immediately ejected by first base umpire C.B. Bucknor. Garner rushed onto the field to argue and was eventually tossed after throwing his cap to the ground.

As Garner returned to the Houston bench, a chair was thrown from the dugout. It was unclear who threw the chair. Garner was making his first return to Detroit since he was fired as Tigers manager in 2002.

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New York Yankees 5, Atlanta 2 -- Jason Giambi homered twice and drove in five runs and Randy Johnson tossed seven shutout innings at New York. Johnson gave up four hits, struck out a season-high nine and didn’t walk a batter. He didn’t allow a runner past first base until Edgar Renteria went to third on Chipper Jones’ two-out single in the sixth.

The left-hander then struck out Andruw Jones to get out of the inning. It was his first start against the Braves since he threw a perfect game for Arizona in a 2-0 win at Atlanta on May 18, 2004.

Derek Jeter scored two runs on his 32nd birthday for the Yankees, who have won five of six.

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Florida 8, Tampa Bay 5 -- Hanley Ramirez beat out an infield single to start a five-run fifth-inning rally for the Marlins at Miami.

Cody Ross had three hits and two RBIs, and Josh Willingham, Mike Jacobs and Jeremy Hermida each drove in two runs for the Marlins, who are 22-9 since May 22 and moved within one game of Philadelphia for second place in the NL East.

Rocco Baldelli had three RBIs and scored twice for Tampa Bay, getting a two-run first-inning home run and a long triple in the third. Greg Norton added three hits for the Devil Rays.

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NATIONAL LEAGUE

Milwaukee 6, Chicago 0 -- Carlos Lee hit a two-run homer at Chicago and Chris Capuano won his fourth consecutive decision.

The Cubs have lost eight in a row at home, their longest losing streak at Wrigley Field since dropping 12 in a row to start the 1994 season. The Cubs have lost 11 of 13 overall and have not won at home since beating Cincinnati on May 30.

Greg Maddux, stuck on 325 career wins, gave up five runs and seven hits in seven innings and lost for the eighth time in 11 starts.