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Indians pound Ortiz, Twins

May 16, 2007 - 4:38 AM CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Jhonny Peralta and the Cleveland Indians love playing at Jacobs Field and showed why Tuesday.

Peralta hit a home run and had four RBI and the Indians racked up another home win with a 15-7 pounding of the Minnesota Twins in the opener of a three-game series.

Cleveland improved their major league-leading home record to 12-3 thanks to an offensive outburst led by Peralta. He hit a three-run homer to highlight a six-run first inning and the Indians rolled from there.

"They were looking forward to getting back here," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "We haven't been able to play many games here this year."

Peralta, who leads the Indians with eight home runs, hit his homer off Twins starter Ramon Ortiz (3-4), who was staked to a 2-0 lead when Michael Cuddyer hit a two-run homer in the first.

"I don't try to hit home runs, but if I end up leading the team (in home runs), it would be nice," Peralta said. "The guys got on base and I am trying to bring them in. I am trying to make contact."

Ortiz started the season 3-0 but has not won since April 17 and was not around long Tuesday. He pitched one inning, allowing six runs and seven hits while suffering his fourth loss in five starts.

"If you go ball one, ball two to good hitters like Cleveland, that's going to happen," Ortiz said. "I didn't make many good pitches. They were right in the middle. " Grady Sizemore broke out of a 1-for-14 slump with four hits, including a two-run homer.

"Obviously, I haven't been swinging the bat like I have wanted to," Sizemore said. "I wasn't trying to do anything different, just keep it simple."

Josh Barfield had three hits and three RBI for the Indians, who improved to 7-2 this season against American League Central Division foes, including 3-0 against the Twins.

"We've been winning, but we haven't been playing our best baseball," Barfield said. "It's been one or two guys a night, but when you have seven or eight guys going, it's tough to stop."

The Indians took advantage of just about every opportunity they had to put runs on the board, going 11-for-16 with runners in scoring position.

"It all starts with Grady getting us rolling," Barfield said. "When he gets on base, things happen."

Justin Morneau homered twice for Minnesota. It was his sixth career two-homer game and second this season. He hit a pair of homers on May 8 against Chicago.

Paul Byrd (3-1) was the beneficiary of the Indians' offensive outburst, improving to 7-3 in 13 starts against Minnesota. Byrd yielded five runs and seven hits in seven innings with seven strikeouts.

"I felt like I was pitching at Coors Field," Byrd said. "The offense totally picked us up tonight. I gave up two in the first and we came back with six. A lot of credit to the offense, they made my job easier tonight."

Minnesota again was without one of its big bats in catcher Joe Mauer. The reigning American League batting champion is on the disabled list with a strained left quadriceps, and the Twins have now lost six of their last eight games without him.

"We scored seven runs," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "When we score seven runs, we usually win. We put some good swings on the ball. We had a good start, but it didn't last long."