Blake has seven RBIs in Indians' 13-9 win at Texas

Baseball Betting Lines

06/03/2008 -

Casey Blake had a week's worth of production in just three at-bats.

Blake homered twice and matched a career high with seven RBIs Monday night to help lead the Cleveland Indians to a 13-9 victory over the Texas Rangers.

Although Blake's power surge helped the Indians to an 8-3 lead in the fourth inning, they needed more to outlast the Rangers.

``You have to keep scoring runs the first through the ninth innings. They have a knack for coming back,'' Cleveland's David Dellucci said. ``You've got to keep putting heat on those guys.''

Texas tied the score with a five-run fifth before Ben Francisco hit a two-run homer in the seventh and Dellucci added another two-run shot in the eighth to give the visiting Indians a double-digit output for the first time in three weeks and fifth time this season.

``You could feel it,'' Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. ``We knew we would have to keep scoring, keep taking advantage of opportunities.''

Blake hit two-run homers in the second and third innings, then added a three-run double in the fourth - all off Rangers starter Doug Mathis - for the five-run lead. After Dellucci's leadoff double in the second, Blake went to the plate trying to advance the runner.

``He got him over, and got him in, too,'' Wedge said.

``I didn't feel great,'' Blake said. ``It's one of those things. He hung a slider, I went with it and it got in the jet stream. ... That just gives you confidence.''

At Baltimore, Manny Ramirez homered in a third consecutive game to reach 502 for his career, two behind Eddie Murray for 23rd place in baseball history, in Boston's 6-3 loss to the Orioles.

After the game, the Red Sox announced slugger David Ortiz is headed for the 15-day disabled list due to a partially torn tendon in his left wrist. Ortiz hurt his wrist while swinging at a pitch Saturday night. He missed Sunday's game, then left the team for Boston, where he underwent an MRI on Monday.

In the other AL games Monday night, it was: Minnesota 6, the New York Yankees 5; Oakland 3, Detroit 2; and the Los Angeles Angels 4, Seattle 2.

Cleveland loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth, on a walk and two singles, before Blake doubled into the right-field corner. That bases-clearing hit came on the 100th - and last - pitch thrown by Mathis.

Josh Hamilton, chosen Monday as the AL player of the month for May to become the first player to win the monthly award in April and May the same season, homered in his third straight game for Texas. The two-run shot was his AL-best 16th and increased his majors-leading RBI total to 65 in his 58 games.

Marlon Byrd tied the game in the fifth with his fourth career grand slam, off left-hander Aaron Laffey.

``Our offense is good, but you've got to hold the other team down,'' Rangers manager Ron Washington said after his team allowed 13 runs for the second straight game. ``We hope we've got it all out of our system the last two days. ... They just took it away from us.''

Eddie Guardado (0-1) came on at the start of the seventh, and struck out Grady Sizemore for the second out after allowing a single to No. 9 hitter Asdrubal Cabrera. Joaquin Benoit then left a breaking ball over the plate on his first pitch for Francisco, whose third homer skimmed the top of the left-field wall and snapped his 3-for-15 slide.

Masa Kobayashi (3-2) allowed a hit and a run with three strikeouts in 1 2-3 innings.Orioles 6, Red Sox 3

Adam Jones broke a tie with a three-run double in the eighth inning, and host Baltimore avoided a four-game sweep.

Baltimore blew a 2-0 lead, then rallied with a four-run eighth against Hideki Okajima (1-1).

Ramirez had singled off Jim Johnson (1-2) to put the go-ahead run in scoring position in the top of the eighth for Mike Lowell, who delivered an RBI single for a 3-2 lead.Twins 6, Yankees 5

Delmon Young had three doubles and three RBIs and Joe Mauer hit his long-awaited first homer of the season to lead host Minnesota.

Young, who entered the game hitting .264 with no homers and just 15 RBIs after coming over in a trade from Tampa Bay, had RBI-doubles in the second and sixth innings before giving the Twins the lead for good with another two-bagger off Kyle Farnsworth (0-2) in the eighth.

Matt Guerrier (3-1) pitched 1 2-3 innings of scoreless relief for the win and Joe Nathan picked up his 15th save in 16 chances.Angels 4, Mariners 2

Ervin Santana gave up two runs in 7 2-3 innings to lead visiting Los Angeles.

Santana (8-2)gave up six hits and struck out three, and didn't face a three-ball count on a batter until two outs in the seventh inning.

Casey Kotchman ripped three singles, Robb Quinlan had a pair of base hits and an RBI and the trio scored three of the Angels' four runs.

Jarrod Washburn (2-7) lost his third straight decision and has just one win since the second week of the season.Athletics 3, Tigers 2

Bobby Crosby hit a game-winning RBI single in the ninth inning to lift host Oakland.

Kurt Suzuki led off the ninth with a sharp single off Francisco Cruceta (0-3) and went to second on Jack Hannahan's sacrifice. He scored easily as Crosby's hit traveled to the wall in right-center field.

Huston Street (1-1) pitched a scoreless inning to earn the victory as the A's won for the sixth time in their last eight at home.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.