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Indians five-run fourth ensures series split with Angels

Sep 10, 2007 - 4:00 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Ryan Garko homered in a five-run fourth inning as the Cleveland Indians downed the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 6-2, on Sunday.

Trailing, 2-0, the Indians began the pivotal fourth inning when Grady Sizemore led off with a bunt single and stole second two pitches later off Angels starter Jered Weaver (11-7).

Asdrubal Cabrera followed with an infield single that kicked off the glove of Anaheim first baseman Casey Kotchman, who was unable to corral the hard-hit grounder, allowing Sizemore to score from second and trim the lead to 2-1.

"I was just looking at the coach's signal to keep running home to score," Sizemore said.

Following a strikeout by Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez singled to put runners on the corners for Garko, who hit his third homer in his six games when he sent Weaver's first pitch in his at-bat over the fence in left for a three-run blast and a 4-2 advantage. With three RBI in the game, the 26-year-old recorded his first multiple-RBI game since July 26.

"This was a fun series," Garko said. "The best part is that we won the final two games after losing the first two. I was just looking to get that runner home from third in that situation but I got a pitch I could handle and made good contact."

Jhonny Peralta followed with a double and scored two batters later when Franklin Gutierrez delivered an RBI single to increase the Indians lead to 5-2.

"We did all the things necessary to play good baseball and win this game to split the series," Indians manager Eric Wedge said.

Cleveland added an insurance run in the sixth as Cabrera doubled home Sizemore. The 21-year-old Cabrera had two RBI in the contest, his first since August 29.

"They have a bunch of young guys over there that are good ball players," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.

Aaron Laffey (3-1) won his third straight decision, yielding two runs - one earned - and six hits over five frames for the Indians (83-60), who padded their lead in the American League Central as second-place Detroit (77-66) lost earlier in the day.

Cleveland now owns a six-game lead in the division.

"This is exciting for me to pitch in big games like this down the stretch and trying to get to the playoffs," Laffey said. "Definitely good to split the series and getting this win today was big since Detroit lost and we picked up a game."

Weaver surrendered six runs for the second time in his last five starts and nine hits over five innings in taking the loss, snapping his personal three-game winning streak.

"My control just seemed to leave me, and my pitch count got high early," Weaver said. "I felt strong in the beginning but then I just made some bad pitches in the wrong zones."

Kotchman finished with three hits for the Angels (84-59), who lost a game off their nine-game lead in the West entering the day as Seattle (75-66) defeated the Tigers earlier on Sunday.

"Kotch is a guy that we need to produce in this lineup and he did that tonight, but we just didn't have many guys on base ahead of him," Scioscia said.