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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CLEVELAND (AP) _ Vulnerable to the home run and exposed to the
elements, the Cleveland Indians won anyway.
Well, they did play the Detroit Tigers.
Despite giving up five home runs on a night the rain never
stopped, the Indians got four RBIs from Travis Fryman and held on
for a sloppy 11-9 win Tuesday.
"Four hours of pure enjoyment," Indians acting manager Grady
Little sarcastically called it.
Fryman also made the game's biggest defensive play to help
Charles Nagy get his first win since April 11, giving Cleveland its
fourth in five games.
The first meeting between the teams in 2000 was Cleveland's
first chance to get back at Detroit manager Phil Garner. During
spring training, Garner called the Indians "vulnerable" and
predicted a close race in the AL Central.
Those comments were tacked up on the Indians' bulletin board in
Florida, and so far they've been accurate as the five-time
defending division champs struggled.
But Cleveland has played better lately and was able to outlast
the Tigers, who got two homers from Juan Gonzalez.
"We know what he said in spring training," Indians reliever
Steve Karsay said of Garner. "We'll keep it in the back of our
minds. But we have to go out there and play the same way whether
it's the Tigers or Royals or whomever."
Fryman hit a three-run homer off Hideo Nomo (1-3), and Jim Thome
added three RBIs for Cleveland.
Omar Vizquel had two triples and Sandy Alomar hit his first
homer as the Indians improved to 31-7 against the Tigers at Jacobs
Field.
Vizquel is still rankled by Garner's comments.
"I don't know what he's talking about," Vizquel said before
the game. "They're in last place. I don't know why he keeps
talking like that. They still have a long way to go to play on our
level. This is a statement series for us."
Gonzalez hit a solo homer in the first and added a two-run shot
in the eighth off Paul Shuey to bring the Tigers within 10-9.
Luis Polonia and Gregg Jefferies hit solo homers, and Rich
Becker had a two-run homer for Detroit, which will play Cleveland
13 times in the next 42 days.
"Home runs are baloney," Garner said. "At least one-run
homers are. Give me some three-run homers. Just a homer doesn't
tickle me to death."
One of the reasons the Tigers have baseball's worst record
(12-24) is bad timing. Of Detroit's 36 homers this season, 25 are
solo shots, including 21 of the last 25.
Nagy (2-4) won for the first time in six starts, but again
pitched poorly. He allowed eight hits and five runs in five
innings, but improved his career record against the Tigers to 17-5.
"I've been through this before in 1996," said Nagy, who went
15-10 that season with a career-high 5.22 ERA. "It seems like
every time I make a mistake, they hit it real far."
It took five Indians relievers to close it out with Karsay
getting four outs for his eighth save.
Fryman's sixth homer chased Nomo in the third and pushed the
Indians' lead to 7-2. Nomo, who struggled with his control from the
outset, walked Thome and David Justice before Fryman connected.
But Becker, signed by the Tigers last week, hit a two-run homer
in the fourth to bring Detroit within 7-5.
The Indians added two runs in the fifth off Willie Blair on
Kenny Lofton's RBI groundout and Vizquel's second triple.
Jefferies led off the sixth with his first homer, off Sean
DePaula, and the Tigers cut it to 9-7 in the inning on Polonia's
sacrifice fly.
Detroit had the bases loaded with two outs, but Dean Palmer hit
a grounder to deep third where Fryman threw him out from the edge
of the outfield grass.
"It was a good out at a good time," Fryman said.
Notes: Nagy passed Jim Bagby and Sam McDowell for 10th place on
the Indians' career win list. ... Gonzalez's 36th career two-homer
game also gave him 11 homers at Jacobs Field, most by any opponent
at the ballpark. Mark McGwire and Frank Thomas hit nine each there.
... It was Vizquel's second career two-triple game. He previously
did it on May 7, 1998, at Texas. ... Detroit had not allowed an
extra-base hit in 19 innings before Vizquel's triple in the second.
... Alomar's homer was his first since last Sept. 23 at Detroit,
also off Blair.
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Baseball Scoreboard
RECAPS
Kansas City 8
Oakland 7
Cleveland 11
Detroit 9
Chi. White Sox 4
NY Yankees 0
Toronto 7
Boston 6
Texas 9
Tampa Bay 7
Baltimore 4
Anaheim 3
Seattle 9
Minnesota 5
Cincinnati 6
Pittsburgh 2
San Diego 7
Florida 3
Montreal 2
Arizona 0
St. Louis 8
Philadelphia 2
Colorado 4
NY Mets 3
Atlanta 9
San Francisco 7
Los Angeles 6
Chicago Cubs 5
Milwaukee 6
Houston 5
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