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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Minnesota's Denny Hocking, struggling all season to hit the curveball, was looking for a fastball.
Cleveland's Steve Karsay, searching for his fastball all night, threw a curve.
And Hocking lined it for a two-run single in the 10th inning Saturday night as the Twins rallied for a 4-3 victory.
"You can count the number of curves I've hit this season on one
hand," Hocking said. "He threw me a lot of curves, but I was
still thinking fastball because you don't want to take one down the
middle with the game on the line."
Minnesota scored the tying run in the ninth on Cristian Guzman's
two-out single off Karsay, who blew a save for the fifth time in 21
chances.
Twins starter Brad Radke gave up seven hits and struck out seven in eight innings to send the Indians to their fourth straight loss.
Radke, eligible for free agency after the season and the subject
of trade rumors, and the Twins are close to a four-year contract
extension worth $36 million.
"If it works out, it will take a lot of pressure off my back,"
Radke said. "I like the way this team is playing. These wins
against Cleveland and the way we played the White Sox, we have
stepped it up a notch."
Cleveland continued to struggle, however. The Indians fell 10½
games behind first-place Chicago in the AL Central by losing for
the 15th time in 21 games.
Karsay walked Midre Cummings to open the Twins' 10th and Matt
Lawton followed with an infield single. After Ron Coomer grounded
into a double play, Corey Koskie was intentionally walked.
Hocking foiled the strategy with a line single to right.
"I couldn't locate my fastball," Karsay (1-5) said. "That
wasn't the typical me, walking guys. My fastball was getting too
much of the plate, so I tried a 3-2 breaking ball."
Eddie Guardado (4-2) gave up a solo homer to Ricky Ledee with
one out in the 10th. Ledee hit his first home run since being
traded from the New York Yankees for David Justice on Thursday.
Bob Wells got the last out for his sixth save.
Minnesota trailed 2-1 in the ninth when Jacque Jones lined a
one-out triple off the wall in left-center. Jones held at third as
pinch-hitter David Ortiz grounded out, but then scored when Guzman
singled off Karsay.
"I felt good when we got Ortiz," Indians manager Charlie
Manuel said. "Then the next guy faked a bunt and ended up tying
the game with a line drive."
Minnesota stranded runners at third three times off Indians
starter Dave Burba, who, along with outfielder Kenny Lofton, turned
boos to cheers in helping Cleveland to a 2-1 lead.
Lofton, dropped from the leadoff spot for the first time in
eight years, went 2-for-4, scored one run and drove in another
batting eighth.
The six-time All-Star outfielder had been booed Friday in a 7-2
loss to the Twins when he struck out three times in an 0-for-5
night that lowered his average to .237 -- 73 points below his career
mark.
Burba allowed one run on five hits over seven innings. The
right-hander struck out seven and walked one.
"I made some adjustments," Burba said. "I need to make some
more, like getting quicker to the plate, but my main concern
tonight was getting the hitter out."
It was Burba's first start since also being booed Monday night
when he yielded eight runs in 5 1/3 innings in a 13-2 loss to
Detroit.
Lofton and Omar Vizquel were dropped from the first two spots in
the order to the last two as Manuel shook up his struggling lineup.
The move paid off instantly as Lofton broke an 0-for-19 slide
with an RBI double in the second. The opposite-field liner to the
wall in left-center scored Russell Branyan, who had been hit by a
pitch.
Vizquel, whose .259 average to start the game was 74 points
under his career-best .333 mark of 1999, then lined an
opposite-field single to left, scoring Lofton for a 2-1 lead.
Coomer led off the Twins' second with his 11th homer.
Game notes
Lofton had batted leadoff in 1,067 games since hitting
ninth on May 8, 1992. He batted ninth six times that season -- the
only times he hit other than leadoff in his career before Saturday
night. ... Coomer has a .405 (17-for-42) average during a 10-game
hitting streak. ... Minnesota went 4-for-4 in stolen-base attempts,
including 3-for-3 off Burba. Fifteen of the last 16 runners
attempting to steal against the right-hander have succeeded.
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Cleveland Clubhouse
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