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First-place Indians aim for fifth straight win

May 4, 2007 - 2:27 PM Cleveland (17-8) at Baltimore (12-16) 7:05 pm EDT

BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- The first-place Cleveland Indians aim for their fifth straight victory when they take on the Baltimore Orioles in the opener of a three-game series on Friday.

The Indians kept their stellar play going on Thursday thanks to Grady Sizemore, who delivered an RBI double with two outs in the eighth inning to snap a tie and lift the team to a 6-5 triumph over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Cleveland, which completed its first three-game sweep of the season, won for the 10th time in 11 contests. During the run, the Indians took two out of three from the Orioles last weekend.

Cleveland will start Paul Byrd (2-1, 3.50 ERA), who is 1-4 with a 4.73 ERA in five starts against Baltimore in his career. He has not beaten the Orioles since 2001.

However, the righthander has pitched well this season. Byrd allowed three runs and eight hits in six innings, walking one and striking out three, in a 9-4 victory over Texas on April 26.

He will be opposed by Erik Bedard (3-2, 6.09), who yielded four runs and five hits in six innings in a 7-4 win against Cleveland on Saturday. The lefthander also struck out 11 and walked two but did not figure in the decision.

Bedard is 2-0 with a 3.60 ERA in six starts against the Indians.

The Orioles have lost their last four games and nine of their last 10, including a 3-2 setback at Detroit on Wednesday.

Despite starting 7-2 at home this season, Baltimore now is trying to avoid its first five-game losing streak at Oriole Park at Camden Yards since September 18-26, 2005.