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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Juan Gonzalez and Eddie Taubensee didn't give
the umpires anything to discuss about their home runs.
|  | | Juan Gonzalez said he was trying to win the game with one swing. He did just that with a 10th-inning homer to beat Detroit. |
Gonzalez's one-out homer in the 10th inning Wednesday night beat
his former team and ended an intense game as the Cleveland Indians
rallied for a 4-3 win over the Detroit Tigers.
Taubensee, sent up to pinch-hit by ejected manager Charlie
Manuel, tied it at 3 with a two-out homer in the bottom of the
ninth for the Indians.
Cleveland overcame a disputed call in the sixth inning when Wil
Cordero's homer was overruled and Manuel was ejected.
"That made it tougher to come back," Taubensee said. "It
didn't seem like things were going our way for a while."
Gonzalez, who had a dismal 2000 season in Detroit, drove a 1-1
pitch from Dave Borkowski (0-1) over the wall in left for his 12th
homer.
When Gonzalez finished circling the bases, he was greeted by his
Indians teammates, who had stormed onto the field -- along with
Manuel -- an inning earlier for a brief shoving match with the
Tigers.
"I don't think I deserve a suspension," said Manuel, who
managed the team from the runway behind the dugout. "I've just got
to go out there, that's a must. That's our team. I'm not going to
sit in the clubhouse with my team out there."
Gonzalez said he was trying to win it with one swing.
"Yeah," he said. "Absolutely."
It was Gonzalez's eighth homer at home this season and 20th in
52 career games at Jacobs Field.
Bob Wickman (2-0) worked out of a jam in the top of the 10th for
the win.
Just moments after both benches briefly emptied when Tigers
reliever Todd Jones and Jacob Cruz collided at first, Taubensee hit
his second career pinch-hit homer. He had been in an 0-for-13
slump.
"I guess it put a little more drama in the game," Taubensee
said. "It's one of those things that you want to happen."
While Taubensee was getting ready in the on-deck circle, Jones,
who entered with an 8.68 career ERA against Cleveland, got Cruz to
hit a high hopper that the right-hander fielded between the mound
and first.
As he approached the bag, Jones decided to tag Cruz, who shoved
the reliever away with both arms. The two went face-to-face as
players from both dugouts sprinted onto the field. No punches were
thrown.
"I thought he was trying to get me with his elbow," said
Jones. "We were two guys trying to do our job and just got
tangled."
Cruz said he was just trying to get to the base in one piece.
"I was trying not to hurt him," he said. "I was running down
the line and he was in the way."
Dean Palmer hit a two-run homer and Roger Cedeno an RBI single
for Detroit.
Detroit starter Steve Sparks, who pitched a four-hit shutout
against the Indians on April 14, allowed nine hits in six innings.
The knuckleballer walked none, struck out four and caught a break
in the sixth when Cordero had an apparent, go-ahead homer
nullified.
Cordero's shot was initially ruled fair by third-base umpire
Marvin Hudson, but then reversed by plate ump and crew chief Angel
Hernandez.
"That guy (Hudson) got it right," Manuel said. "I asked
Angel, 'Are you sure and he said, 'I'm 100 percent.' Then I said,
'Go look at the video then."'
Cordero's high drive seemed to hook directly over the
91-foot-high foul pole in left and he rounded the bases for his
second homer. Detroit manager Phil Garner charged out to protest,
and after a brief discussion with the three other umps, Hernandez
ordered Cordero back into the batter's box.
"I don't hit many and then they take one away," Cordero said.
Garner said he had a good angle of Cordero's shot.
"I thought the ball was foul," he said. "That's why I went
over and asked them to talk it over."
Gonzalez had a sacrifice fly in the first and the Indians made
it 2-0 in the second on Jolbert Cabrera's RBI single.
Game notes
The Indians are 6-0 in one-run games at home. ... Finley
passed Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax for 31st place on the career
strikeout list with 2,397. Koufax had 2,396. Coincidentally, Finley
wears uniform No. 31. Koufax wore 32. ... Taubensee hit his other
pinch-hit homer on June 22, 1995, for Cincinnati against Atlanta's
Pedro Borbon. ... The start was delayed 14 minutes by rain. ...
Palmer's homer extended the Tigers' streak of consecutive games
with an extra-base hit to 32.
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RECAPS
Seattle 5
Minnesota 4
Baltimore 12
Anaheim 5
Cleveland 4
Detroit 3
NY Yankees 7
Boston 3
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Kansas City 4
Oakland 1
Chicago Cubs 4
Cincinnati 2
Los Angeles 6
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Houston 6
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Pittsburgh 0
Philadelphia 5
Pittsburgh 2
(2nd game)
Atlanta 0
Florida 0
NY Mets 4
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St. Louis 3
San Francisco 5
Arizona 1
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