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Dellucci, Byrd help Indians KO Twins

Aug 3, 2008 - 3:47 AM By Brian Hall PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- When Paul Byrd last pitched at the Metrodome, he wondered if his career was slipping away. A month later, he was baffling the Minnesota Twins again.

Byrd won his third straight start and David Dellucci had three hits, including a two-run homer, as the Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-1, on Saturday.

Kelly Shoppach added his 11th home run, another two-run shot off of Minnesota starter Kevin Slowey, as Cleveland won for the 11th time in its last 19 games.

Byrd (6-10) tossed seven solid innings, allowing one run and six hits, to beat Minnesota for the first time in four starts this season. Rafael Perez finished with two perfect innings.

"When you get older, you start to wonder, 'Hey, have I just lost my mojo. What's the deal here? Is my fastball just not good enough anymore? Have guys figured me out?'" Byrd said. "I don't know too many other ways I can change because I have adapted my whole career. I shaved my mustache, got a new glove, got a tip on the breaking ball, and I'm throwing the ball a little better."

Since suffering his 10th loss of the season at Minnesota on July 4, Byrd owns a 1.73 ERA over his last four starts. The righthander owns an 11-5 record all-time against the Twins and is 7-2 with a 2.48 ERA in 12 starts at the Metrodome.

"I like throwing the ball here," Byrd said. "I always seem to pitch pretty well here for the most part. I get some fly balls, and as long as we can track them on the ceiling, I do OK."

Minnesota was without manager Ron Gardenhire, who was serving a one-game suspension for his animated argument against umpire Marty Foster on Thursday which incited the Metrodome crowd and caused a stoppage in play.

The Twins (61-49) missed a chance to jump into first place in the American League Central after the division-leading Chicago White Sox (61-48) lost, 9-7, earlier in the day at Kansas City. Chicago leads Minnesota by one-half game in the standings.

Slowey (7-8) allowed just one hit through three innings, but ran into trouble in the fourth and fifth. He went six innings, giving up five runs and six hits while striking out seven. But, the two home runs allowed - - each barely clearing the right field wall - proved be his undoing.

"I felt like I made some good pitches that they put some good swings on, and then also made some mistakes that they put some good swings on," Slowey said.

Jhonny Peralta plated Dellucci with an RBI single for the Indians' first run. Shoppach added his two-run homer for a 3-1 advantage in the fourth. Dellucci's ninth home run in the fifth made it 5-1.

Dellucci finished a triple short of the cycle.

Forced to move on trading ace CC Sabathia and Casey Blake, Cleveland has stayed competitive with younger players seeing their first consistent major-league action.

"One thing they have always done is show up and get after it," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "That is never going to change. They take a lot of pride in what it means to be a big-league ballplayer, and we are going to continue to work hard to get better. We've got a lot of young kids out there; some of them are struggling and some of them are figuring it out."

Injuries played a large part in the sudden reversal after Cleveland played in the AL Championship Series last year. Shoppach is one of the players getting a shot. Since perennial All-Star catcher Victor Martinez went on the disabled list in June, Shoppach has hit .309 with nine homers, 26 RBI and 25 runs scored in 37 games.

All-Star Justin Morneau put the Twins ahead, 1-0, with a sacrifice fly in the third. His 87 RBI rank second in the league. However, Minnesota left seven runners on base, three times stranding a runner at third.

"Once (Byrd) got the lead, you know he knows how to pitch," said Twins acting manager Scott Ullger. "We had a couple of balls hit to the wall, near-misses, but it was his night."