Sabathia outduels Santana in 15th win

CLEVELAND -- C.C. Sabathia rarely passes up a chance to get in a dig against the Minnesota Twins.

On Wednesday night, he might have buried them.

Rookie Asdrubal Cabrera’s two-run homer off Johan Santana and Victor Martinez’s solo shot in a four-run first off Minnesota’s ace sent Sabathia to his long-delayed 15th win as the first-place Indians won their fifth straight, 4-3 over the Twins.

“It feels good to sweep these guys and let them know we’re for real,” said Sabathia (15-7), who in the past has irritated the Twins with biting remarks and brushback pitches. “We definitely have something to prove to everybody.”

The Indians’ seventh win in eight games, coupled with Detroit’s loss at Kansas City, increased Cleveland’s lead in the AL Central to 4 1/2 games over the second-place Tigers.

Santana gave up 10 hits, matching a career-high, but shook off a four-run, six-hit first and managed to stay in as long as Sabathia.

The Indians, though, did enough early damage against the two-time Cy Young winner and completed a three-game sweep of the Twins, who came in riding a season-high five-game winning streak.

The defending Central champions fell 8 1/2 games behind Cleveland.

“This was a disappointing series for us,” Manager Ron Gardenhire said. “They shut us down. But there’s a month to play. You keep playing until you’re told you’re out. We obviously put ourselves in a deep hole, but we owe it to our fans and to ourselves to keep playing.”

Sabathia, who gave up two runs and seven hits, had been stuck at 14 wins since Aug. 3.