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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Chuck Finley got off to another good second-half start -- with plenty of help from rookie Russell
Branyan.
Finley, who went 7-2 in the second half of 1999, had an All-Star
performance and Branyan drove in four runs to lead the Cleveland
Indians past the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-3 on Friday night.
"I don't break the season down into halves," Finley said.
"I'll get about 35 starts and add them all up at the end."
Finley (8-6) allowed two runs and five hits over seven innings
in his first outing since being the only AL All-Star not to play in
his team's 6-2 victory over the NL in Atlanta on Tuesday night.
The left-hander, signed as a free agent last winter after 14
years with the Angels, improved to 5-1 with a 2.33 ERA at Jacobs
Field this season.
"It's always easy to work when you have some runs," Finley
said. "Your mistakes don't loom as large when you already have
some runs."
Kevin Young hit solo homers in the fourth and ninth innings for
Pittsburgh. It was his fifth career multihomer game.
Branyan hit a three-run home run to put Cleveland ahead in the
second inning and had a sacrifice fly during a five-run fifth. It
was the third time this season that Branyan had four RBI in a
game.
Manny Ramirez opened the second inning with a single to left and
went to second on Jim Thome's single to right. Branyan then hit a
high fly ball for his 12th homer, 432 feet to center for a 3-0 lead
off Kris Benson (8-7).
"Kris got that ball up in the strike zone," Pirates manager
Gene Lamont said. "His control was not good. It has not happened
often, but it did tonight."
Pittsburgh made it 3-1 in the third on an RBI groundout by Jason
Kendall.
Young pulled Pittsburgh within 3-2 in the fourth by lining his
14th homer into the stands in right-center. He homered again to
nearly the same spot leading off the ninth against Justin Speier.
"Those are the only balls I've hit the other way that I can
remember in a long time," Young said. "It's tough to gauge a
pitcher when he's got such a big lead, but Finley was good. He got
us out."
Cleveland restored its two-run lead in the bottom of the fourth.
Travis Fryman doubled, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on
Kenny Lofton's broken-bat, bloop single to center.
The Indians went ahead 9-2 with a five-run fifth that began with
three straight singles, included sacrifice flies by Fryman and
Branyan, and was capped by Sandy Alomar's two-run double.
Reliever Jeff Wallace hit one batter, walked another, and threw a wild pitch to fuel the rally.
Game notes
Rain delayed the start 1 hour, 23 minutes. ... Finley
struck out four, giving him a total of 2,269 to pass Hall of Famer
Lefty Grove for 37th on the career list. ... Lofton improved to
20-for-56 (.357) with runners in scoring position. ... Branyan has
10 homers in 44 at-bats at Jacobs Field this season. ... Finley was
the fourth left-handed starter the Pirates faced in the last six
games. Overall, Pittsburgh is 11-14 against lefty starters. ...
Young's homer extended his hitting streak to 13 games. ...
Cleveland is 10-4 against NL teams this season and tied the Florida
Marlins at 38-25 for the best record since interleague play began
in 1997.
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Baseball Scoreboard
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Cleveland Clubhouse
RECAPS
NY Mets 6
Boston 4
Cleveland 9
Pittsburgh 3
Houston 9
Detroit 4
NY Yankees 6
Florida 2
Toronto 3
Philadelphia 2
Tampa Bay 8
Montreal 5
Atlanta 4
Baltimore 1
St. Louis 9
Chi. White Sox 4
Milwaukee 4
Kansas City 0
Chicago Cubs 6
Minnesota 2
Arizona 6
Texas 1
Seattle 7
San Diego 5
Anaheim 5
Los Angeles 3
San Francisco 4
Oakland 2
Cincinnati 9
Colorado 2
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